George Gooneratne optometrists:

An innovative spectacle

Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI

Some businessmen prefer to import popular brands of various items to the country and make easy profits rather than manufacturing an innovative product.

But some who start with importing goods later learn to manufacture them locally saving foreign exchange for the country and giving employment to locals.

Highray Optical Industries Chairman, Jayantha Abeygooneratne is one such entrepreneur hailing from reputed George Gooneratne optometrists family who has become the only manufacturer of spectacle frames and plastic lenses in Sri Lanka. He is also the owner of RX lab service with the largest lens stock in Sri Lanka.

Abeygooneratne, Sri Lanka's No 1 Optical Service Provider who owns 60 percent market share was interviewed by Daily News Business.

After completing primary education at Ananda College, Colombo he was invited to join his elder brother to run the business to maintain a family of eight children.

"It was my father late George Abeygooneratne who started this business in 1950 in a small place in Maradana with only two people.

In 1967 my father joined politics and handed over the business to my elder brother. He found it difficult to manage it by himself and invited me, he said.

I too had a great interest towards business because I always wanted to do something for the country. It was my father who taught me to do eye testing when I was a student. Later I became a qualified optician having passed the London Course of Optometry in Sri Lanka.

There was not much competition in this field at that time and it was a growing business,he said.

There was a Government tender to supply 15,000 pairs of round shape complete spectacles for cataract patients at the Eye Hospital. One of the conditions was that pro-forma should come from a local manufacturer with an approval from the Ministry of Industries. I won this tender to supply a pair at the rate of Rs 8.50 and within four months I completed this task. That was done in a small building in Polgasowita. That was a huge challenge as there was no proper technology and machinery in the country, he said.

However, he started a small workshop to grind glass optical lenses with all locally produced machinery and imported raw materials where the capacity was increased up to 16-20 pairs a day.

Abeygooneratne was very concerned about losing foreign exchange by importing fused bifocal glass.

One Indian exporter called K.N. Patel and Company in India used to promote his business in Sri Lanka those days and Abeygooneratne visited him and tried to learn business secrets.

Patel was reluctant and avoided him. He was not discouraged by this act and one day he picked up an address in UK from a discarded box used for packing by Patel. He wrote to that address of a raw glass manufacturer in England and he got a reply with 100 pairs of glass blanks and 100 pairs of fusing reading buttons free of charge. In the meantime he was sent to India to look for new machinery and learn more about the industry. Finally he was able to manufacture and get to know the suppliers.

After everything was done some competitors sent petitions saying that his product was not good for human beings. However, he was able to eliminate all objections.

In 1980 when the free economic policy was introduced a lot of foreign imports started flooding the country and two more companies entered the market for lens production.

At this point he invested on two new projects after visiting the UK and USA and the knowledge he gathered on latest technology helped him to start new ventures on finishing and surfacing bifocal glass lenses and surfacing of plastic lenses.

He did further improvements by producing soft contact lenses, and plastic spectacle cases for the first time in Sri Lanka.

In 2008,the first ever Plastic Lens and semi finished Blanks Coating industry was started in their Polgasowita factory.

At present 80 percent of all orders under prescriptions are manufactured with this variety which is popular among the opticians.

His range of product and services include Optical frames. CR 39 lenses, Glass bifocal, Hard coating, tinting UV Protection, supplying of ophthalmic instruments, machines and other accessories, computerized glazing and edging. RX Lab Services, Contact lens and solutions, spectacle cases .and spectacle cleaning solutions.

He has provided employment to nearly 100 people in his company.

Abeygooneratne has opened 14 showrooms by now to market his product range and his future plan is to have more new branches in strategic locations in the country and outside to become the strongest and largest chain of optical industry in the SAARC region.

He is in the process of developing the Hard Multicoating (anti reflection) lens production facility which requires Rs 50 million investment.