Local footwear in for good times

Harshini Perera

[Profile]

Name: Ranjith Hettiarachchi

School attended: St. Aloysius College, Ratnapura

Professional qualifications: B.A. (Hons)

Civil Status: Married, has a son

Experience: 42 years in the field

Sports: Played badminton and held a record for long jump in athletics.

Footwear is a sector that needs constant change in style, technology and trained labour. Sri Lanka needs to make close relationships with leading footwear manufacturing countries. The Samson Group has been able to acquire high technology according to consumer demand and be the market leader in local footwear industry, Samson Sportswear Managing Director, Ranjith Hettiarachchi said. Here are excerpts of the interview.

Q: What is the current position of the footwear industry in Sri Lanka?

A: I think that the footwear industry has now reached a critical stage because now Sri Lankan footwear manufacturers have shown consumers of their capabilities. We have proved that Sri Lanka can produce quality shoes and has been able to serve the local market well.

Thus local footwear manufacturers can help the country by saving foreign exchange without importing footwear. As we have been able to cater to the demand, we have to get ready for the next stage. That is to explore the export market.

Footwear manufacturers need to work with Government agencies and look at possibilities of exploring the export market. We will be able to do it at this moment when the Government has given tax concessions and other facilities. The Government helping this has given concessions to import raw materials and machinery duty free.

Q: What are the improvements that can be made to the footwear industry?

A: We can especially make more comfortable shoes using natural raw material such as leather. Though the Samson Group has not gone into the production of leather, we can easily access raw materials from countries such as India. With the emerging economy, social status and living standards, consumers too moving from one product to another. Samson Group is ready to step into that level. Our consumers today demand healthy and comfortable products.

There were some restrictions such as non availability of leather. The prices of leather were high therefore we could not cater to the leather shoes production market.

Q: What are the challenges you face in this industry ?

A: One challenge is that Sri Lankan craftsmen do not have a proper training. There should be proper training in place provided by universities and training centres on leather, footwear production and leather accessories. We need more technically qualified young people to come into this field.

At the moment, there is a restriction of getting qualified people for the industry from institutions. I think for the success of any industry new thinking must come in and young people must join in. Young people come in with new ideas and they tend to learn fast.

We have failed to get young people to the industry and they have lost interest in it. We are trying to reverse that situation by introducing footwear to university courses such as textiles. The success story of the garment industry is mainly attributed to the young people being attracted to the industry with knowledge of the textile technology.

The role of the Government should be a facilitator for the industry. The Government does not need to give directions to the industrialists.

The Government need not ask industrialists to give facilities for employees, but the employers will do it once the company prospers. The Government needs to make rules and regulations for the industry and give the freedom to industrialists to work independently.

Q: What are the new markets Sri Lanka is looking for?

A: Due to the colonization past, Sri Lanka has tended to look at European markets. There can be various markets we have neglected especially South American, South African markets which are coming up soon.

We need to look into other markets such as Middle-East markets. The Government has a role to play because the Government must appoint business oriented and qualified people for foreign missions as the foreign mission heads should be agents to promote business for the country. Then it will be a central point in promoting the country's business by representing the country.

Q: What are the current fashion trends in footwear?

A: The fashion trends in footwear are changing while various shapes are becoming popular. At times shoes made out of textiles also became popular but continuously the demand for good leather shoes is a prevailing trend. It can be ladies, gents or formalwear it will be mainly leather. Sports shoes have become popular eventhough it is not used for sports. Sport shoes have become a casual wear and many people make it a part of their dress habit.

Q: What is the investment Samson Group has put for the machinery?

A: It is an area which we keep changing. We always look for new and latest machinery because that's how we can input the new technology. We would always like to buy the latest innovative machinery. Most of the latest machinery has originated from European countries such as Italy, Germany and UK. The same machinery has developed countries are produced at a low cost by China which is a good thing for countries like Sri Lanka though the durability of the product many not high as those from developed countries.

Q: What is the support you expect from the Government?

A: The Government needs to play the role of the facilitator internationally and locally. Locally the Government has done a great service by bring in peace to the country. Sri Lanka needs to have a competitive edge in any industry for which the Government should give facilities. We must not cling on to the habit of considering production cost and setting the selling price.

On the other hand we should bring down the cost of production. If we have innovative thinking there are so many ways of bringing the cost down.

Q: How do you see competition between the local footwear industrialists?

A: One needs to be little ahead of the competition all the time. Competition is not. We always encourage competition and within competitors we always try to follow good ethics. We do not believe in cut throat competition but a competition with correct strengths. We consider imported shoes as our main competitor at present. We try to match the quality, material and comfort of imported shoes to locally manufactured shoes.

The Government has laid a good safety net by increasing the Custom duty and CESS on imported shoes.

Q: What are your expansion plans?

A: Our core business is footwear and we have diversified into adjacent sectors. We are doing expansions on required areas. We have diversified to rubber related expansions as raw materials. Currently, rubber is not exported but value addition is done and CESS is introduced to limit raw materials going out of the country. We have moved to tyre manufacturing for bicycles and other vehicles where Sri Lankan rubber can be utilized.

We have already gone into manufacturing of brushes using coconut fiber and locally available fiber mainly for exports. We have also gone into production of clay floor tiles using our own soil. We excavate the old tanks in the North-Central province and get clay for production. It also helps the irrigation of the country. We have used local raw materials for all our industries.

Samson Group has diversified into the hydro power industry as well tapping our existing resources. It is situated in Mawanella and it produces two megawatts to the national grid.

Q: What is the management style adopted by the Samson Group?

A: I would say it is Sri Lankan style with the Buddhist background. As the founder of the company was from the South, he adopted a pleasant and Sri Lankan culture into the company.

The employees too were treated following that. The employees felt this as their second home and thus it made them to contribute to it better. We have created a worker friendly environment.