Nihal Shantha and Sons wins Presidential Export Award

Monday, 22 October 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Nihal Shantha and Sons Owner Nihal Shantha, a renowned cinnamon exporter in the country, was awarded the Presidential Exports Award for Emerging Exporter of the Year in the Spice Exports Category. The Presidential Exports Awards was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena. Shantha received the prestigious award from State Minister of International Trade Sujeewa Senasinghe.

Nihal Shantha had entered the spice business in 1983 under the guidance of his father and today he is one of the most prominent exporters of cinnamon in the Southern Province. Having finished school, he served in the Sri Lanka Navy for about 13 years and thereafter returned to the cinnamon trade to restart his business on a small scale. This has grown to be one of the leading cinnamon exporting companies in Sri Lanka. At present he exports cinnamon to the United States and countries in South America and Europe.

“I started this business with nothing. To grow this business to this level, I received a lot of support from my family, friends and employees as well as banks and financial institutions. At the same time I would like to appreciate the assistance given to me by Ravi Silva from the G.P. De Silva Company. It was Ravi Silva who was able to break the monopoly of the cinnamon export trade in Colombo and bring the cinnamon export business to the South,” said Shantha speaking on his achievements thus far.

He further stated that he was able to build an internationally and nationally renowned strong company with the full confidence of his customers through discipline, commitment and sheer effort.