He ventured into the field of printing with printer's ink in his veins:

A dream comes true

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Priyanga Perera

Priyanga Perera ventured into a career of printing following his studies at St. Joseph's College Colombo. He entered the printing industry 23 years ago. Even as a young man he dreamt of setting his own business one day.

He set up his printing business Sky Paramount (Pvt) Ltd, in 1992, with a capital of Rs. 10,000 borrowed from his mother with two employees at Kelaniya. He was probably a man who ventured into the field of printing with printers ink in his veins.

"With my technical experience it was easy for me to start my own business. Today there are 99 employees at my factory at Kelaniya. All our employees are fully trained and committed to perform any given task. Our factory is equipped with modern machinery for designing and finishing work," he said.

He changed the company's name to Paramount Print Pack (Pvt) Ltd, "With the new name, the public will come to know us better.

Priyanga initially studied marketing and then found employment in a printing establishment from 1984-1989. Whilst working he followed a course in printing at the Sri Lanka Institute of Printing and left to Japan in 1989 for higher studies. He learnt a great deal about printing before returning to the country.

When Paramount Print Pack (Pvt) Ltd began its business the company was inundated with orders from hotels, restaurants and hospitals and from the hospitality industry.

"We supply all types of sachets to serve sugar, pepper, salt and sauce. We are the market leader for sachets in Sri Lanka," he said

Paramount Print Pack also manufactures brochures for the hotel industry.

They began manufacturing cartons for the packaging industry. The company now export sachets to Maldives and Dubai and plans to capture new markets in the future as well. Priyanga says his next target is Europe.

"We want to capture the European market gradually. The Europeans too look for cheaper markets in Asia as manufacturing cost are high there.

"Our policy is to give the best to our clients. We do not want to be the biggest supplier but want to be the best supplier when it comes to quality. Our Company slogan is 'love affair with quality', he says.

He is now planning to export his products to Australia as well. "We have found a client in Australia and want to expand our trade ties." Asked whether the global recession has affected his business, he says the impact was not so bad although there was a slight slump in exports.

Priyanga Perera (44) is married and is a proud father of three children, Hansith, (7) Thesandi (4) and a new born girl. His wife Dimuthu works as a senior manager at a well-known company.