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by Gunaratne Liyanaarachchi - Kurunegala District Roving Correspondent

Daisen Industries (Pvt) Ltd, which won the Gold Award category for coir products at the National Chamber of Exporters Awards ceremony has consolidated its operations and will be floating several overseas subsidiaries in Europe and the United States, its Chairman Palitha Chandrasekera told the Daily News.

He also describes the perfect employer-employee relationship and the unity of the staff as one of the cornerstones of the success of the company in emerging as the major value added coir exporter in Sri Lanka today.

He said that the addition of the handles and the packaging materials to brooms and brushes which were hitherto exported in the semi-finished form, has around a 100 percent value addition today.

The interview:

Q: Daisen Industries (Pvt) Ltd of which you are the Managing Director has won the Gold Award at the National Chamber of Exporters' Awards ceremony. How would you describe the commencement of your company and its product range?

A: I commenced business operations in June 1987 and the name of that company was Damayanthi Industries. In one year from that day, I exported the first shipment to Japan on July 4, 1988. I changed the name of the company to Daisen Industries Ltd and made it a limited liability company. It also received BOI approval. Our industry revolves round the manufacture of brooms and brushes using coconut fibre and palmyrah fibre as raw material for which there is a market demand in that country.

Q: What is the present status of the company?

A: It is a fully fledged production operation and a factory now which employs over 250 people. There is also another workforce of an additional 600 people who are serving the company as subcontractors and they are in Chilaw, Ratnapura, Kurunegala, Kandy and Mahiyangana. We are today at the forefront as the exporters of Thamshi brushes to Japan. This is further evidenced by our winning the Silver Award in 2001 and the Gold Award for 2002.

Q: You are the leading exporter of the brushes and brooms category to the Japanese market today. Who are the people who assisted your company to reach this present position?

A: I cannot forget the cooperation and the assistance I received from my immediate family. In addition, the others were the Export Development Board, the Coconut Development Authority, the International Division of the People's Bank and Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation (SLECIC). They gave me the financial support and the advisory services.

Q: The progress of the company is clearly evidenced by its rise from the Silver Award to the Gold Award within a short period of one year. What is the secret behind this success story?

A: It is heartening that there are no labour problems in the company and all the staff members and workers are a united lot. This has resulted in the sales growth of 62 percent between 2001 and 2002. Today, our exports go to the Daiso Supermarket which is the biggest supermarket in Japan. We have made value additions to the coir based products which no Sri Lankan exporter has been able to do.

Q: You have been able to add tremendous value to the coconut based products such as coir. How will you explain the process?

A: This is a hand made product. This was exported as a semi-finished product to Japan all this while. We have made it a complete product by placing a plastic bag with a plastic handle with all the labels and stickers which makes it a complete product.

The value addition is over 100 percent.

Q: Do you import any raw materials as well?

A: Yes. We import a lot of synthetic fibre, natural fibre and other raw materials from Japan, Taiwan, China, South Africa and Kenya.

Q: How would you describe the manner in which you stay ahead of competition?

A: We introduce around four to five new products to the market. That is the way we stay in the market.

Q: What are the future plans?

A: We have been exporting coir brushes and brooms for the last 15 years and we are going to introduce door mats as well. We export to the USA and UK as well. We have a subsidiary company in Australia as well. We hope to launch several overseas subsidiaries as well.

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