Nagenahira Navodaya creates more jobs:

Tri Star Apparel goes to Trinco

Anuradha KODAGODA

The Tri Star Apparel group, a leading garment manufacturer in the country has taken the initiative to open the first garment factory under the Nagenahira Navodaya concept in Thambalagamuwa in the Trincomalee district.

“The Tri-Star group stands out in its pioneering efforts to provide employment opportunities and harness the rural talents of the country, by setting up factories across Sri Lanka under the company’s Rural Empowerment Concept. Tri Star intensive training programs have been successful in developing the skills of the rural folk and producing high quality garments to meet international standards,” said Chairman, Tri-Star group, Kumar Dewapura.

“We have planned to open a new factory in Thambalagamuwa during the first week of next month. This area was formerly controlled by Tiger rebels. We are targeting over 1,000 job opportunities for the rural community in this area. We have already selected 800 girls and have trained them to develop their skills in the apparel industry. We set up a training centre in Trincomalee to facilitate them to develop their skills. This project will help generate money and it will directly support development in the area,” he said.

“The total investment on this project is US $ 2 million, and the factory has the capacity to produce 100,000 pieces per month and we are mainly targeting the US market. We are planning further expansion at this factory and also hope to expand business in the Northern province as well in the near future,” he said.

“Even though there is a high risk on investing on businesses these days due to the global economic crisis, this is the right time for all businessmen to invest especially in the Eastern and Northern provinces and to contribute to the development war in the country,”

“Business is always a gamble. However, the success of every business depends on the management skills and cost management. The main reason for factories to close down which we experienced in the industry was due to poor management and poor cost management,” he said.

“With the dawn of peace in the country, overseas buyers are willing to work with Sri Lanka again and this will create more opportunities not only in the Apparel industry but also in many industries in the country. Therefore, the next few years will be quite challenging for every industry in the country,” he said.

Tri-star Apparel launched its official website on Tuesday evening with the participation of all senior members of the company.

Governor of the Northern province, Dickson Delabandara was the chief guest.