Q: How would you describe the prevailing business climate in Sri Lanka for entrepreneurs – especially given the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year?

A: When it comes to entrepreneurs, they are essentially people who think ahead and in many ways, could be considered to be solution providers for any problem.

As such, I believe that the last 12 months or so have been filled with opportunities in the wake of the pandemic.

Q: Could you elaborate on the reasoning behind this perspective?
A: As entrepreneurs, we received a great deal of support – even the government provided many concessions and loans to enable these local businesses to move forward. If people think about it, the lockdowns and prevailing business climate over the past year or so provided them with the time needed to craft new ideas and become more innovative.

Year 2020 was a period for many local and home-based businesses to grow – for people to sit down, and expend the time and effort needed to strategically plan their businesses.

Q: How do you view ‘social entrepreneurship’ – and is this an area that entrepreneurs should engage in?
A: Yes, certainly. Social entrepreneurship serves as an opportunity for many entrepreneurs to scope out various social, cultural and other issues that exist in our businesses, and put forward the appropriate and strategic initiatives that are needed to build each other’s businesses.

This serves to uplift not only our businesses but also the local economy. Therefore, social entrepreneurship is very much a positive feature of working in this field and should be encouraged.

Q: What are the main challenges faced by entrepreneurs?
A: If we take Royal Cashews as an example, which operates with an agriculture-based product – the cashew nut – the main challenge we’ve come across is the preservation of these raw materials. This is particularly because the cashew nut that’s produced is seasonal and harvested only once a year.

Another challenge is the total number of hectares allocated for cultivation, which is not sufficient to cater to the cashew nut demand in Sri Lanka. It’s not unknown that there is unused and free land in the north and east of the country, which would be ideal locations for cultivating cashew nuts.

This of course, isn’t being pursued; and the result is that there are insufficient crops to sustain the growing demand – and consequently, there’s an increase in prices.

Q: With the cashew nut crop being harvested only once a year, how did Royal Cashews manage the harvesting process in 2020 amid the lockdowns and other restrictions?
A: Royal Cashews is first and foremost a cashew exporter. During the lockdowns, the government, Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation (SLCC) supported businesses such as ours by providing special permits that enabled us to operate, provided that we adhered to the required health and safety procedures.

This support ensured the continuation of our operations during the lockdowns that were imposed last year.

Q: What are the latest trends that Royal Cashews has come across in the entrepreneurship sphere – and how has the organisation looked to introduce innovation to the cashew nut sector?
A: When looking at the cashew sector, by the time we joined the business, it was operating at a primary level. This provided us with the incentive that we needed to push boundaries, and identify new and quicker ways to generate income. To ensure the success of the business, Royal Cashews has been a pioneer in introducing the latest technologies to Sri Lanka’s cashew nut cultivation and export segment. This was achieved by following the latest technologies, trends and systems in overseas markets, and benchmarking our standards to reach their level of competence and success.

This approach has also increased the daily metric tonnes cultivated by the company, bringing the amount to 11.5 metric tonnes a day, which is presently one of the largest cultivation capacities in Sri Lanka.

In addition to these efforts, we have also managed to expand our business online, becoming one of the first cashew nut exporters to sell its products on the internet to a global market with the click of a button.

Our most recent innovative achievement however, is the production of cashew nuts without the use of oil in the roasting process. This serves the health conscious segment of our population while also creating a healthier product in general.

Q: Could you shed light on the company’s plans for the future – especially with regard to expansion?
A: Presently, we are expanding our collection sites around the country but hope to open a few smaller cashew nut plants in and around the more rural areas of Sri Lanka in the near future. This initiative serves a great purpose for our community as we’re looking to generate more employment opportunities in these rural towns.

Furthermore, we’re working to create a new line of organic cashew nut produce, which we believe will launch a new market in Sri Lanka while simultaneously generating sales in Western countries.

Apart from the organisation’s immediate plans, we are also pursuing a community dream: Royal Cashews aims to educate local farmers on the proper tools and systems needed to stop the wastage we have identified in our cashew farms and plants.

Dr. Ruwan Wathugala
Chairman
Managing Director

Telephone 4061416  |  Email ruwan@greenwayasia.com  |  Website www.royalcashew.lk