Snippets from the conversation:

Welfare

From the beginning I have been interested in the workers and their welfare.

Personal satisfaction

People know me for tea. But I get far more satisfaction in helping the poor, the ill, the disabled and the needy. I spend a lot of time and money through my foundation since I too started from nothing. All my companies are doing well and donate 10 per cent of their pre-tax profits to the MFJ Charitable Foundation.

Tea, written off?

The industry has not changed one bit. That’s because there are no visionaries in the plantation industry. Everybody has written off tea and rubber. I have a lot of faith in tea and love the industry from the time I spent my school holidays in Pundaluoya with close friends.

Messenger

Whenever I speak on Ceylon Tea I say I am only the postman, the messenger giving the right quality at the right price.

God

Like any entrepreneur you come to the crossroads – become a multimillionaire and/or share your success with others. I took the road of sharing my success and now I have both – wealth and helping others. Throughout God has been my friend when many people turned against me. I used to go to All Saints Church and pray many times during those hard times.

Values

What is happening to the values and discipline today? In today’s families, the father and mother are both working and the children are neglected.

Young girls and boys party and spend time with friends but have a false sense of values and discipline. Busy parents and the children don’t have meals together. That is one place where you sit together and talk. My parents made sure that almost every day we sat together and ate which is not the case today

That sense of belonging, belonging to the family has disappeared. The advancement of technology has contributed to the decline in values. Mobile phones have become a source of distraction, no values. I can’t believe my eyes the way children behave today. I urge parents to spend 2 -3 times a week sitting down with your children eating together, talking. I tell my friends that the best investment for your children is your time; not material things, if you don’t give them your time, they won’t give you their time.