Expat Chit Chat

Local workforce talented and hardworking

Shanaaz Carina

The Managing Director of Fonterra Brands Lanka (pvt) Limited Achyut Reddy told Daily News Business that compared with other counties in the region. Sri Lankan workforce is talented and hardworking. "But opportunities are very limited for them within the country.

If the country could find a solution for the current conflict. Sri Lanka can derive immense opportunities through this talents for the economic growth" he said.

How long have you been working in Sri Lanka?

I was appointed in October 2007 to Fonterra Sri Lanka. I have been to Sri Lanka many times and I love the country. I feel like I am in my own country.

Are you happy with the performance of the local staff?

I would say Sri Lankans are hard working people, very encouraging and helpful. Most of all they take responsibilities in their work and have very good management skills.

The country has many talents, which are most of the time outstanding. But I see that there are limited job opportunities to make use of the talents. Sri Lanka could be stronger if the country could find solutions for the conflict.

In my opinion Sri Lanka could have an amazing growth if they could used the talents more and more that are going abroad.

And I take pride in stating that seven employees who worked in Fonterra Lanka is working abroad as leaders in other world wide Fonterra companies and I think comparing within the Asian countries Sri Lankans are hard working.

How does your company find the competition with other dairy manufacturers in the country? How will the company manage the situation?

We as a company accept competition. Because constructive competition helps the consumers to find out the best product that has being offered to them. Our main focus is given to our consumers.

We provide them with the best quality with nutritious and healthier products to the country.

Also the global price of milk will have an impact on us but we will provide the best as the new dairy factory will be 100 per cent Sri Lankan products and talents.

How do you see the Sri Lankan economy?

The economic growth of Sri Lanka is excellent. High inflation rate is the biggest challenge the country is facing at the moment. If a solution could be provided for such a situation Sri Lanka would be a very strong country.

Where do you like to spend your holidays?

I am very much interested in mountains and adventures. The place I would go often with my family is Nuwaraeliya. It's a nice place to be relaxed and to spend time with my family. When it comes to adventure its always the Yala National Park. Yala is a beautiful place to go on adventures and I have been to been Yala more than five times.

How did New Zealand Dairy Group become Fonterra?

In July 2001, 84 per cent of the farmers involved voted to accept the merger of the New Zealand Dairy Board, New Zealand Dairy Group and Kiwi Co-operative Dairies. The merger was consummated in October of that year and a new company, Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited, was created.

In resolving potential internal conflicts, Fonterra was set up as a new company that bought the assets of both co-operatives and the Dairy Board. The company was co-operatively owned by New Zealand dairy farmers, representing about 96 per cent of all dairy farmers in the country.

Today Fonterra is one of the most successful co-operatives in the world and the world's sixth largest dairy company by turnover.

Since Fonterra Co-operative Group was formed in 2001, we have become the world's largest dairy exporter with over 11,000 shareholders. We export 95 per cent of our New Zealand-made dairy products to our customers and consumers in more than 140 countries.

Our milk tankers collect 14 billion litres of milk every year. That's enough to give every person in the world two glasses of milk a day.

Why does Fonterra want to establish a new dairy plant in Sri Lanka?

World milk prices increase day by day and more contribution from the local milk producers for the country's milk consumption is a vital factor for maintaining low milk prices in the country.

The new dairy plant will facilitate over 3000 dailry farmers in the country through linking them to our supply base.

This will give us immense opportunity for us to maintain closer relationships with these farmers and gain their contribution for the economic development of the country.

What is the total investment of this new dairy manufacturing plant?

The investment of the yoghurt manufacturing plant is a capital investment within the business. It is a Rs. 1.2 billon project. And this is one of Fonterra's largest off shore investments.

Why did Fonterra choose Biyagama for the new plant?

We wanted to have a dairy business in the Western Province and Biyagama was recommended to us by the BOI because they were having training programmes for dairy farmers in this area. And I could say we chose Biyagama mainly because we are closer to it and far away from Colombo.

Do you have any special scheme for selecting suitable dairy farmers for the new project?

The Ministry of Livestock Development is conducting many projects for farmers and they will help us find suitable dairy farmers in the island.

We would try to help all the farmers around Sri Lanka. We have estimated a supply of 52000 liters of milk per day and have targeted nearly 3000 dairy farmers at the initial stage. We are expecting to increase the number of dairy farmers in the future.