Archives

by Shirajiv Sirimane

A single owner company which was into growing and exporting coffee over 155 years ago, has today turned out to be one of Sri Lanka's leading consumer and pharmaceutical products marketing and distribution organisations.

The Company was founded by a 23-year-old British entrepreneur Samuel Butler, who was in Sri Lanka for a holiday. On his way to Kandy he found that there was a large extent of unutilized land freely available and decided to try his luck with coffee. He leased out land from the government up country and soon he was expanding his plantation making profits.

Butler then decided to have his own shipping links and started exports on his own. He also tied up with another British entrepreneur and formed Darley Butler and Company in 1848.

Although Butler was not involved in the government administration at the time, he commanded tremendous respect in the society. It is said that he was one of the founder members of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Later he persuaded the then British government to speed up the work of the Colombo Harbour.

However, with the Coffee plantation being subject to a disease he soon moved to the tea industry and still managed to do well.

Their first Colombo office was set up in Fort where the present Ceylinco Akasa Kade is located and later shifted to Maradana.

It is said that Darley Road is named after the founder of the company to pay tribute to the service he rendered to society and also because their headquarters were located near St. Joseph's College.

Soon after the World War the company started to diversify into marketing household items and personal care products. It was Darley Butler who introduced powdered infant milk to the country under the trade name Cow & Gate.

A pack of Cow & Gate was sold at Re. 1 and it was very much in demand during the time.

In the early 1970s the company was bought by another old Company, E B Creasy & Co Ltd for around Rs. 500,000 and today it is the holding Company.

After the introduction of the free economy Darley Butler and Company stopped their tea business and concentrated on their marketing arm.

According to the Managing Director of the Company, S. D. R. Arudpragasam today the company employs over 40 area managers and 130 marketing representatives to sell their products. "Our product range include Razors, Toothbrushes, Dry Cell Batteries, Flashlights, Bulbs, Mosquito Coils, Malted/Chocolate Health Beverages, Infant Formula, Pens, Soyameat, Bakery Yeast, Confectionery, Jams, Sauce, Cordials, Coffee, Vinegar and many other items. "We market nearly 150 products and some of out popular brand names are Laxapana, Hacks, Candy Man, DCL, razors, Ninja mosquito coils, Viza washing power, Denta toothbrushes, Ultra-B and Parakum."

Arudpragasam who has been with the company for over 15 years said though they do not advertise Cow and Gate it is very popular even today.

He said that they are now looking at the export market in Pakistan and India for their razors and toothbrushes.

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager