Sri Lankan businesses have been on a rollercoaster ride over the past few years with a never before seen series of unfortunate events. Yet in the spirit of resilience, companies have looked at various strategies to survive and grow – including establishing a global presence.
“Sri Lanka is resilient and lots of brands have ventured overseas – some have worked, some haven’t,” observed Chief Executive Officer of Link Natural Products Roshanie Jayasundera-Moraes, in an interview on LMDtv back in July.
She outlined the differences between taking products and brands global: “If you talk about products that have gone global, we’ve had those for centuries in the form of tea, rubber, coconut, apparel and a whole lot of others that go as inputs to aid another brand or product. That’s a model that has worked for us for a long time and some of these products have done tremendously well.”
“Travelling as a brand is quite difficult; it’s not as easy as we think,” she asserted, adding that it’s expensive and takes time. Despite the difficulties however, she advocates taking brands beyond our shores when possible given Sri Lanka’s small internal market.
Jayasundera-Moraes cited several opportunities that Sri Lanka can choose from to establish “our own niche.”
She elaborated: “We can’t scale to expand all over the globe; but we can send high value exports to a niche market. Can we not do something with batik and collaborate with one or several design houses? And jewellery, value added spices like cinnamon and even Sri Lankan cuisine – there are some opportunities that are untapped and waiting to be taken out. And of course, Ayurveda.”
The CEO of Link Natural Products acknowledged that there are several bottlenecks in the process of going global such as cost, market access, scalability, global marketing, and navigating through approvals and regulatory processes.
Having said that, she strongly believes that if companies are trying to expand their footprint globally, what’s needed most is “a good story.”
“Ensure you have a good story. And make sure you’re solving a proper problem of a customer – and then that story will take you through,” she averred, adding: “Customers will become your fans, and take your products further and further.”
Following the customer is paramount, according to Jayasundera-Moraes: “I don’t think we should fix ourselves by saying we’re going to the US, Japan or India. First, you need to know where your customer is; and if you’re lucky and blessed to have a product that can serve the world, you need to find where your customer is and go there.”
“I won’t discount the fact that we’re sitting next to one of the largest markets in the world today,” she said, noting that India is a difficult market to access but if we can do so in some way, there is great potential there. Moreover, she added that the South Asian region is full of growth countries.
Even the West holds potential, she mentioned, explaining that following the slowdown, traditional markets will bounce back.
To this end, Jayasundera-Moraes asserted that “we should be ready to cater to markets that we’ve exported to and their consumers when they bounce back.”
With regard to following the customer, she emphasised the importance of e-commerce platforms: “Go where your customer is – whether it’s social media, e-commerce or whatever the platform. Go there and talk to the customer. E-channels and platforms help you reach your customers more efficiently and cheaper.”
“Whether one is going global or otherwise, your product must cater to a customer need,” she emphasised, noting: “We can’t create a product and then go looking for markets; you have to know what problem you’re solving and it’s only through this that you can succeed.”
“If you have an authentic story and a unique value that you’re delivering to the customer, the customer will do half your job,” she concluded.
