Sinindu graduates from cottage industry to shoe exporter

by Anjana Samarasinghe

In 1985 when Sheran Wickremesekera returned to Sri Lanka after working in the Middle East his in-laws suggested that he should take over their family business Sinindu Enterprises. It was a shoe manufacturing business, which was done as a cottage industry.

It was a huge challenge for me. In the first six months it was very challenging. Sometimes there were no orders and most of the time my samples were rejected by the buyers said Managing Partner of Sinindu Enterprises, Sheran Wickremesekera .

Bata was the main buyer of Sinindu Enterprises and helped them in improving their manufacturing process. The knowledge I had on footwear manufacturing was limited. Bata has helped him in improving his knowledge. When the company started to grow, Bata placed more orders on us he said.

The company was able to gain more orders and started to expand its business as well as its staff. The turning point of the story Sinindu Enterprise begins when Sheran had a brainstorm discussion with few of his friends on developing the business.

He wanted to improve the business without depending on one source and needed to gain more opportunities.

Sheran with the help of his friends initiated a five-year plan to achieve his business goals. Under the new plan, his first initiative was to shift the workshop to a factory premises with much more space, improving the product range was a main objective of the new plan.

The company introduced their own footwear under a new brand name "Genelle". Till then Sinindu supplied footwear for large scale manufacturers as their subcontractor. Through the new project, Sinindu was able to supply shoes for Odel and some other buyers. Today they have their own outlet at the Lakmal Arcade, Sheran said.

Entering into the export market was another aspect of the plan. Their first export was done in 2004 to Australia with a small quantity. Last year the company was introduced to an UK buyer through one of Sheran's friends.

These buyers used to purchase footwear from China but they were happy with the samples presented by the company. Although my products were much more expensive than the Chinese products, these buyers were keen on the quality of our products. This year UK buyers placed an order for 15,600 pairs and the shipment will be completed next year, he said.

Sheran said that his biggest achievement was entering into the UK market and he believes that this achievement will pave the way to other markets also.

In the future the company hopes to expand their product range from open shoes to closed shoes. The company is now in the process of manufacturing children's shoes and expects to move into gent's footwear also.

Lack of raw material and lack of skilled labour are the major barriers in the industry. Getting local authority approval for certain aspects and financial problems are some of the difficulties industrialists face today.

Nearly 70% of the raw material are manufactured in Sri Lanka and the balance is imported.

The industry needs quality materials and also need to be informed about the latest trends of the international market to compete with it, Sheran said. The Government should provide skilled labour through well established training centers and also there should be a proper mechanism for industrialists, which enable them to easy access for finance, he said.

According to Sheran any entrepreneur who wants to kick-start any venture should have a clear vision and do a feasibility study about the business. Hard work and honesty will be the driving force of any successful venture.