Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
FT
Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
Wednesday, 24 August 2022 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
From left: Good Life X Alchemist for Growth Arj Wignaraja, Good Life X Founder and CEO Randhula de Silva, Dilmah CEO Dilhan C. Fernando and Amrit J. Fernando
Post-pandemic health, economic and social challenges have made everyone re-think the current way of doing business. With increasing risks for supply chains to be affected by disruptions, building resilience is taking on ever-greater importance today. Sustainability and technology have a key role to play here. In fact, moving into eco-friendly value chains has proven to deliver higher financial gains while creating positive societal impact.
Dilmah Tea has teamed up with Good Life X to launch the Lost Ingredients Lab: A platform for Sri Lankan organic and regenerative agriculture and food sectors to integrate their value chains through innovation and collaboration.
The Lost Ingredients Lab is an initiative under the ‘Support to Small and Medium Enterprises in the Organic Agriculture Sector’ program of the Multi-Donor Action (MDA) jointly co-financed by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The program is aimed at creating investment opportunities in the domestic agri-food sector, emphasising the growing importance of digitalising the domestic organic food sector, and supporting organic food producers in Sri Lanka to access new markets, particularly in the EU.
In addition to bringing key native ingredients to international markets, the project will engage SMEs and entrepreneurs in the process of innovation and sustainable growth. Participants will undergo an eight-month program, in which the first phase focuses on research and development and the second phase concentrates on product development. This initiative could not come at a better time as Sri Lankan businesses face the need to adapt amidst unprecedented economic hardship.
The key local ingredients have high nutritional value, health benefits, and unique properties of particular interest for international markets. SMEs and entrepreneurs who work directly and indirectly with these ingredients will have the opportunity to explore new markets and technologies and disrupt existing business models.
