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Marketing toys that tap untapped potential Journey with carbon and ink to Situ Medura
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Everybody's got to learn sometime. Especially kids. The alphabet, the numerals, even simple things like the names of colours, birds or flowers. Psychologists believe the best way to teach them is when they are at play.
Playing with your children is the best investment you'll ever make. Nihal Athukorala doesn't exactly say the words but looking at the array of educational toys with the brand name Panther written on them, safe, durable, designed to stimulate creativity and the imagination of children between three to eight years, manufactured by Javana Graphics Pvt. Limited, it is obvious that he is guided by this truism.
Producing educational toys, however, came much later. After completing his studies at Ananda College and, graduating from the University of Colombo in 1969, Athukorala started his career as a management trainee when he joined the State Printing Corporation, lived and worked in Zambia for a while, returned to work once more at the Printing Corporation and remained there till 1994.
Recalling his memories of Zambia he says when he worked for the Times of Zambia he was the only expatriate in the entire organisation and there were many who wanted to see him sent back home.
"Everyone did their best to make me leave within six months. But I didn't give up. I was in charge of 700 employees and I kept my mettle".
After leaving the State Printing Corporation he used the money he had saved while working abroad to start a business of his own. Having begun with only four workers, manufacturing exercise books and stationary he now has a staff of sixty with a new factory being built in Ratmalana. Athukorala attributes his business success to his in depth knowledge about the local printing industry. He believes it is important to be a Mr. Know-all in whatever business endeavour one chooses to embark on, because then, you need not depend on others for advice.
"Manufacturing stationary is not easy in the local market" says Athukorala. "There is fierce competition. Business reaches a peak only during certain months of the year i.e from October to January. Sales are slack from February onwards. So, to keep the business going, I decided to introduce educational toys to the local market".
How have things been so far? "There is no competition in making these toys because unlike in manufacturing books and stationery, we are the only ones in the market so far" smiles Athukorala.
The locally made toys are cheaper even though the quality is far better than some of the imported toys and Athukorala says he intends to reach the rural children with his products. Lamenting the fact that only the children living in Colombo, Kandy and Galle have access to the toys he manufactures, he says he intends to give the children of the villages too, the opportunity of learning with these toys.
Soft spoken and gentle, a man of few words Athukorala believes without a deep commitment it is difficult to fulfill your dreams. Living with his wife Indrani who helps in his business endeavors and is committed to pursuing social work, his son, Charith and daughter, Mohanthi, he epitomises an entrepreneur who made his own break after leaving his profession.
Having started his business at the age of forty-seven, Athukorala has proven that age is no barrier when it comes to pursuing dreams. If life seems to be beginning to (slightly) run out on you, turn up the heat. Strive. It is worth it.
For more revealing details about this entrepreneur, whose life is an open book with a strong binding, watch Situ Medura tonight at 9.05 on ITN.
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Twenty five trail-blazers on Situ Medura
On March 8, 2005, Situ Medura, a program which highlights local entrepreneurs produced by Power House and telecast on ITN every Wednesday, celebrates its 25th episode. Anup Chandrasekharan, Director, Power House said the program has become a tremendous success not only among the business community but the ordinary TV audiences as well.
The objective of our program is to showcase local entrepreneurs who are not mere businessmen taking risks but who improve management concepts and techniques using local resources and whose products are commended as the best not only by the local consumers but worldwide as well, said Chandrasekharan.
The product may have been around for generations, like gemstones, or might be a relatively new invention like turning jumbo dung into paper, but it’s the originality of the management, the marketing approach and the dogged determination of the entrepreneur that really matters, and which was highlighted on each episode of Situ Medura.
Undoubtedly Situ Medura, by revealing the life and times of local entrepreneurs, who deserve emulation, has today become a guiding light to future entrepreneurs with big ideas and small resources.
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