“A nation that does not innovate will not rise”: Kumaratunga Munidasa

In September 2020 the Harmony page featured Merill J. Fernando, the founder of Dilmah Tea on his perspective on the then raging COVID pandemic which seemed to have debilitated the economy. He opened what few did. Absolute trust, confidence and belief in the innovativeness, endurance and the resilient nature of Sri Lankan entrepreneurship. 

“When the world wakes up from this pandemic, there will be a new set of entrepreneurs to lead the way,” he stated.

Two years later we are seeing all around us the testimony to those words, where the people of Sri Lanka are not indebted to pessimism or despair, where as in the time of COVID, the last year of import restriction for many products, including food products, have motivated local businesses to create import substitutes.  

On 30 March at the very same premises in Maligawatte, that Merill J. Fernando 38 years ago began Dilmah Tea, commenced Genesis, a new beginning for innovation in the food and agri sector by upholding the concept of sustainability through inculcating respect for Mother Earth and all her creatures. 

The Harmony page will now feature brief excerpts of the statements by those in the sphere of food entrepreneurship, diplomacy, academia, environment/wildlife protection, arts and culture who attended launch of the Genesis, a centre dedicated to all Sri Lankans to create solutions by focusing on the ultra-abundance of Sri Lanka, especially the under-estimated food resources of Sri Lanka. 

“My visit to Sri Lanka accepting the invitation of Dilmah to support their Lost Ingredients Lab, to support food innovation using under-utilised local ingredients such as jackfruit, gotukola and seaweed, has taught me that there are hundreds of such food resources in Sri Lanka that deserve local and global recognition. Sri Lanka is a haven for someone experimenting with food innovation as I do and I look forward to taking through this journey as I work with Dilmah to take Sri Lanka’s local ingredients to the world gastronomy realm. During my stay in Sri Lanka I have travelled widely with the Dilmah team and enjoyed the incredible traditional foods of this country,” says Simon Toohey, Masterchef from Canberra, Australia who works with Dilmah to take to the world the nutrition and taste of Sri Lanka’s traditional foods. 

To mark the official launching of the Genesis centre, Toohey conducted a master-class for chefs of Sri Lanka on Dilmah tea infused culinary potential which could transform cooking everyday foods such as cabbage and chickpeas, garnished with the use of locally available produce such as gotukola, wanduru mea (monkey beans) and cashew.

EU Ambassador to Sri Lanka Denis Chaibi emphasised on the richness of Sri Lanka stating that it has the best of everything that includes the best cinnamon in the world, the best tea, cashew and pepper.

“This is not a poor country. When I arrived here four years ago it was categorised as a middle-income country. Few countries in the world will have the immense natural resources that Sri Lanka has such as its renewable energy potential.”

He went on to speak on the natural resources such as sunshine throughout the year and the high tides which are sustainable natural energy luxuries for many countries in the world. 

The EU has been a strong supporter of Dilmah’s efforts to create rural entrepreneurship and its combined goal of protecting the biodiversity landscape of the natural world.

Sri Lankan biodiversity scientist Rohan Pethiyagoda brought attention to something we are often oblivious to – the fact that we are dependent on technology for even the basics of modern survival, by recalling the major outage knocked that created blackouts across the eastern United States and parts of Canada on the early evening of 14 August, 2003 where 21 power plants shut down in just three minutes leaving 50 million people, mainly the residents of New York, Cleveland and Detroit, as well as Toronto and Ottawa, Canada in a state of staggering bewilderment as life as they knew it came to a standstill.

Displaying visuals of people camping out on the streets because local transport could not operate, alongside almost every other modern convenience linked to technology, Pethiyagoda stated that an overgrowth of trees interfering with the power lines running across US had taught the world how fragile our modern technology driven life is.

“When we say organic that too has to be inspected carefully. We often use the words green, ethical or organic superficially. Most persons are going vegan and eating avocado in the West without realising that there is massive deforestation associated with avocado plantations which are grown as a mono-crop. To produce one kilo of almond for almond milk, 6,000 litres of water is used up. Hence when we speak of sustainability we have to see through these holes.”

Prof. Ajith De Alwis who had served as the Director, ERU – Engineering Research Unit, Faculty of Engineering and Head of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering of Moratuwa University and the Chief Innovation Officer of the National Innovation Agency (NIA), spoke of the immense wealth of innovation that humans can learn from the natural world. 

“Sri Lanka is a biodiversity hotspot. We need for local entrepreneurship to find us the economic solutions while safeguarding our natural environment. We have to keep in mind the words of Sri Lankan writer Kumaratunga Munidasa who stated that the nation which does not create new things will not rise. There are many innovations in the world inspired by the natural world. For example, the large retail building in Zimbabwe was built without electrical air conditioning, inspired by termite mounds where the cold night air is kept in circulation inside while warm air is pushed out through chimneys. The earth provides us with the solutions for the zero waste challenge. We have to learn from it and adopt its knowledge.”

Sri Lanka’s iconic dancer, drummer and choreographer, Kalashoori Ravibandu Vidyapathy under whose direction the Saptak performance group presented a traditional musical rendition representing the elements of Mother Nature – air, water and earth in his descriptions of one of the performances themes as ‘Celebration,’ drew attention to some culture in the world such as in North India where death is celebrated. In explaining the musical piece composed around the theme ‘water’ it was pointed out that it is believed by ancient tradition that a certain pitch of the human voice could induce rain.

Dilhan Fernando, son of Merrill J. Fernando and the CEO of Dilmah Tea spoke of how the company his father founded in the very same spot that the Genesis centre for innovation is now housed, will act as a reminder that anyone can become as ‘self-made’ as his father was and giving vision to a goal that encompasses kindness and service to humanity. 

“It was an impossible dream that my father hailing from a rural village pursued to take Sri Lankan tea to the world in a route that was hitherto unexplored. This Genesis centre now belongs to Sri Lankans to take forward as we engage with the world to showcase the abundance of this country. This location will be a base for creation, discussion as well as invention, supporting the resilience of sustainable food related entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka,” – Dilhan Fernando. (https://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/There-will-be-a-new-set-of-entrepreneurs-to-lead-the-way-Merrill-J-Fernando/10523-705932).