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| Sunday, 10 August 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Personality Plus - Mario De Alwis Spicing up your life
Family Born as the eldest to a family of four boys and two girls, Mario De Alwis, the founder and Managing Director of MA's Tropical Food Processing (Pvt) Ltd, had his primary education abroad as his father Aubrey was working for British American Tobacco. Education After coming back to Sri Lanka, he started his schooling at St Joseph's College, Kotahena with short spells at St Peter's College and St Aloysius College, Galle. He completed his Advanced Level examination and got selected to the University of Moratuwa to do a special apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering. "After completing the course I joined Ceylon Ceramics Corporation as a trainee." Career "During my career at Ceylon Ceramics, I got the opportunity of working in both Japanese joint venture projects of Ceylon Ceramics - Noritake and Lanka Walltile Ltd." Change of path "Around 1977, my father retired and started a trading and distribution company in Dambulla. I also left my job and joined him and we moved the business headquarters from Kekirawa to Dambulla against all advice, which to this day, is one of the best business decisions we ever made," he said. "We had to gradually close down our agencies as they were becoming unprofitable. A major reason for this was that we were not businessmen and not good at doing business.
"During this period, my father paid for me to follow a course on developing entrepreneur skills conducted by the Sri Lanka Business Development Centre. When I went back to Dambulla, I saw the vast potential there to develop an agriculture-related business. My wife encouraged me to start such a venture." Birth of MA's De Alwis continued: "We gathered all our energies together and formed the business in 1986 with five workers. I put Japanese management practices into use as they were more practical than the top bottom management systems of the Western world."We built the industry around our society. Therefore, the community and industry were closely knit and the people of Dambulla considered us as their own. We provide direct employment to about 250 and indirect employment to a similar number. "In the early 1990s, we started recruiting professionally qualified people and putting together a formal management system. The company presently employs over 20 graduates in the fields of finance, management, marketing, agriculture, chemistry, food science and microbiology." Backward integration The company has backward integrations with the farming community of Matale under the Regional Agri-business and Perennial Crop Initiatives and Development programme. "Under this scheme, we are working with the farmer community to make Matale the leading agri-business centre in the country. The privatised perennial crop development project has disbursed over Rs 85 million and developed over 1000 acres of land. There is also a database of over 1800 farmers. "The International Fund for Agriculture Development has initiated a project to commercialise 300 farmers and we are doing it in batches of 20. Under this scheme, we create business strategies and brand value for fresh farm produce coming from the region. We have also developed knowledge transfer guides with the help of six graduates to change the mindset of the people." Present The factory has grown beyond a manufacturing unit, building a corporate image as a food processing company with sauces, pickles, chutneys and pastas among the range of products. All products are manufactured locally, but are sold in the market under different sub-brandings. They are exported to Japan, USA, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, UK, Singapore, UAE, Maldives, South America and Australia. Spice industry "The industry has a great future as people tend to put more spices into their food as they have less time to cook. Spices also protect the nutritional value of food," De Alwis said. Quality assurance system "Knowledge is the platform for our quality assurance system. Managed by competent professionals complemented by a well-documented process, our in-house laboratory is equipped to handle testing for microbial load and micro-toxin and chemical analysis. "A quality circle with members from each department and discipline within the supply chain strengthens the management resolve for total quality and healthier food for our consumers." Awards The company has won presidential awards, National Export Awards, national and regional entrepreneurship awards, national safety awards and food safety and quality awards. Hospitality industry "We recently moved to the hospitality industry with the opening of the Dambuluoya Family Park for Sri Lankans. We plan to open two more resorts in the near future," said De Alwis. Pillars of success "The values given by my parents and teachers, the strength and courage of my wife and the belief of a better tomorrow are the keys to my success. My attitude towards people too has helped me to be what I am today. (SG) |
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News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Spices make a world of difference in curries, but the busy life of
today's people has thrown the mortar and pestle to a corner of the kitchen
with most modern pantries not even having any place for them. Why would
anyone bother making spices when you can get it off the shelf with the
same smell and taste.
