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The brand’s ethical ethos is a legacy that he takes seriously. The company has a philanthropic arm, MJF Charitable Foundation, which works with underserved communities to invest in communities across Sri Lanka. To achieve this, the personal funds and assets of Merrill and his family, as well as a share of the revenue of the MJF group of companies are used to fund the work of the Foundation.
“When my father made the commitment to start a business that serves the community, he built it into the core of the business. His philosophy is different – we have to personally be involved with the charity to make sure we are efficient,” he explained.
The Foundation not only works on initiatives that benefit the plantation workers and their families, such as estate housing projects for workers and child development centres that provide care and nutrition to plantation kids, there are also programmes to support entrepreneurs and scholarships for students.
They typically work on 200 to 300 projects a year and have at least 6,000 people engaging with the work of the Foundation every day, he said.
“Success is not an entitlement, it is very much a blessing and this comes with the obligation to share,” he said.
During the two years of the pandemic, the business, like many others around the world, was hard hit as the hospitality industry was decimated, affecting Dilmah’s collaborations with airlines and airline catering groups. But the board, together with Merrill, has “incredible clarity”.
“From the plantation workers and up, no one would be let go and no one would suffer salary or benefit reduction,” said Fernando, on how Dilmah invested its reserves into its employees. From ensuring that families had enough food if they needed to go into quarantine to addressing mental health issues, the team did as much as they could to get through the two years.
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