Torento makes it to the top
On a shoe string budget:
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Dayantha de Soysa. Picture by
Sumanachandra Ariyawansa |
Sri Lanka is rich with many people who have inborn talents in various
fields but they lack opportunities and facilities to develop and make
use of those talents to benefit the country.
However, some people have come up the hard way and established a name
in the country as well as overseas through their talents.
Torento Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, Managing Director, Dayantha de Soysa
the only footwear machinery manufacturer in Sri Lanka is one such
entrepreneur who started this business at a time all shoe machineries
were imported spending huge amounts of foreign exchange.
He was interviewed by Daily News Business.
An old boy of Thurstan College Colombo, de Soysa was the third child
in a family of six children hailing from Colombo.
He joined Ceylon Leather Products as an apprentice soon after his
Ordinary Level Examination in 1971. He continued to work there for 16
years and gradually became a Foreman.
His work and talent was appreciated by the management very often and
he was given double promotions twice. "That was a time that Sri Lanka
imported machines required to the industry but that was not sufficient
to meet the demand," he said.
Through experience I realized that I can manufacture some of these
machines and provide employment to a lot of poor people. After work
hours I designed some small machines successfully and I received orders
from other small shoe industrialists in the market. Then I resigned from
the job and started my company in 1986 at my home in Kadawatha in a very
small way, he said.
He remembered Gigi Shoes Chairman, Sarath Padmalal with gratitude who
helped him immensely by purchasing machineries from him during the early
years. "All banks refused to give me loans because I did not have any
properties to show.
For three years I had to rent out places and once that place also was
flooded during the rainy season," he said. He faced many challenges due
to lack of finance.
He applied for a tender to the Industrial Development Board (IDB) to
supply shoe machinery and he was the only local manufacturer out of 12
applicants.
"The IDB officials had seen my products before at an exhibition held
in Kirillawala and they were satisfied about them.
The imported machines by other companies were priced at Rs 2.2
million and the machine manufactured by me was priced at only Rs 475,000
and I got the order for six machines which I delivered it within two
months to their satisfaction, he said.
Thereafter he continuously received orders from companies like DSI,
Ranpa and other small shoe manufacturers islandwide.
In 2003 a Sri Lankan friend of his working in a shoe company in Papua
New Guinea gave him the first export order. As a result of participating
in national and other exhibitions he received more export orders to
countries like India, South Africa and United States of America
gradually.
De Soysa followed various technical courses and City and Guilds
programs to qualify in the field and imparted that knowledge to the
industry.
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Employees
at work at the factory in Weboda. |
He designed a series of machines to the local foot wear industry at
affordable prices to encourage small and medium entrepreneurs in the
country. There are about 125 such entrepreneurs encouraged by him.
"Most of my machines are made in different upgraded designs to suit
the customers wallet then small people also can enter the market.
The idea of making different designs of the same model is to upgrade
the quality of shoes as and when manufacturers grow with the industry.
"I have developed about 40 different models of foot wear machines so
far and my future plan is to venture into more innovative models.
My latest development is a PVC injection moulding machine and crusher
along with a block ice making and ice crusher machine designed and
fabricated with own technology, he said. Torento is also the leading
cutting die manufacturer accepted by the BOI and shoe moulds and hat
moulds for products that are manufactured for the export market through
BOI.
If Torento did not emerge 23 years ago, the amount of foreign
exchange lost to the country would have been massive. The company has
won a number of district, provincial, national and international awards
in recognition of its valuable services including Entrepreneur of the
Year 2008 Bronze.
The most recognized award was Jeewanshuri honorary title for
remarkable personal achievement and dedicated services towards the well
being of mankind.
The company has diversified into children's footwear manufacturing
industry from this year under the brand name of 'Toto' which would
generate new employment and improve skills.
Torento has identified the need of moulds to the manufacturing
industry of Sri Lanka and a plant is under-way which would save foreign
exchange.
The success of Torento is high quality of its products and reliable
after sales service and the unity of its employees, de Soysa said.
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