In Honour Of Humanitarian And Business Success

Dilmah Tea founder Merrill Joseph Fernando to be awarded Massey’s highest mark of distinction

In an age where social responsibility, sustainability and ethics are fast becoming the tenets of business, one company has been pursuing those qualities since it began nearly 30 years ago.

Now its founder is to be paid one of academia’s highest respects.

Massey University is awarding Dilmah Tea founder Merrill Joseph Fernando with an Honorary Doctorate this Friday, November 29, recognising his many achievements, including his humanitarian contributions outside of business.

While Kiwi tea drinkers will be familiar with Merrill’s “Do try it” TV ads, they may not know Dilmah has funded Massey- based research into the antioxidant and health properties of tea. Merrill has visited New Zealand from Sri Lanka regularly and has been generous with his time and knowledge, says Professor Paul J Moughan, director of the Riddet Institute, where the studies were undertaken. Together with Professor Ray Geor, the Pro Vice Chancellor of the College of Sciences, he nominated the world’s most experienced teamaker for

the prestigious accolade.

“He has been a great supporter of New Zealand business and science,” Professor Moughan explains. “Merrill took a real personal interest in the work and visited the University to meet the staff and PhD scholar involved. He met up with me personally on several occasions, always gracious and highly supportive.”

That support has extended to the New Zealand food industry. Over the years, Dilmah has organised food and beverage matching competitions, hosting top Kiwi chefs and hospitality staff in Sri Lanka, and introducing them to the science and art behind the many styles of Dilmah single origin tea.

The doctorate also acknowledges Merrill’s commitment to ethical business, through the company he founded in 1988. Dilmah was using the terms “fair-trade” and “ethical production” years before they became mainstream, after deciding to tackle the gross exploitation within the tea growing industry in Sri Lanka. The company is known for pouring its resources into humanitarian and environmental causes, working to reduce inequality and mitigating the effects of global warming, practising their philosophy of “making business a matter of human service”.

Following the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, Merrill set up the MJF Charitable Foundation, diverting 10 per cent of Dilmah’s pre-tax profits to charitable aid, helping 10,000 people every week. Meanwhile, Dilmah Conservation Foundation has worked to help the environment. Among their many projects, they’ve worked to restore forestation in Batticaloa by planting 50,000 cashew crops, improving the livelihoods and income of the local communities. The foundation’s work extends to cultural preservation too, with the establishment of the Veddah Handicraft and Pottery Center, providing training on handloom and handcrafts. Last year Merrill established yet another ambitious project, the MJF Centre East, dedicated to harnessing the power of business to transform lives and benefit the environment.

Meanwhile, the entire range of 2,267 Dilmah products is now 100 per cent carbon neutral and the brand is on track to changing all its tea bags and packaging to plantbased material, having identified six areas material to all of their operating units: carbon, water, waste, materials, biodiversity and climate resilience.

It’s no wonder Dilmah has become one of the world’s most trusted brands. Over the years Merrill has been recognised with international awards, including the Oslo Business For Peace Award, Sri Lankan of the Year and the FIRST Award for responsible capitalism for improving lives of underprivileged children and deprived communities. In 2018 he was named as one of the three Most Admired Leaders in Sri Lanka.

Born in 1930 in a rural village of British- ruled Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Merrill was exposed to tea plantations from a young age, becoming fascinated by the coveted positions in tea tasting and trading usually reserved for British expatriates. He was selected to join the first group of Ceylonese to be trained in tea tasting, trading, and marketing at the world’s top tea school at Mincing Lane, London. After returning to Ceylon, he joined AF Jones and Company, a British tea business, quickly making his way up to the position of company director, and eventually buying out the shareholders to form what would eventually become Dilmah Tea. The company were ahead of the curve when it came to celebrating their provenance, bucking the convention to blend teas by pioneering the world’s first single origin tea, packed at its source.

Merrill’s son Dilhan, who is now the chief executive of Dilmah Tea, says the doctorate is a fitting tribute to their father on the eve of his 90th year.

“It is outstanding that he is recognised for the incredibly positive outcomes of the philosophy of making business a matter of human service and his love for New Zealand,” he says. “We continue to work towards reducing inequality and mitigating the worst effects of global warming.”

Dilhan and his brother Malik, after whom Dilmah is named, and Merrill’s Dilmah New Zealand business partner John Burton, will join him on Friday to celebrate at the graduation.

The man of the hour summarises his personal and business philosophy in saying: “We come into this world with nothing, we leave with nothing. The wealth some of us acquire is owed to the efforts of others. Let us, therefore, share that wealth so that goodwill and contentment may make our world a happier place.”

“We come into this world with nothing, we leave with nothing. The wealth some of us acquire is owed to the effort of others...”

— Merrill J. Fernando This is part of a special Viva and Dilmah editorial series. To see more, go to Viva.co. nz/ Dilmah