Agro opportunities
Agricultural produce like gherkins and bananas to Palmyrah fibre are potential areas currently being explored by a blue chip company which recently set-up operation in Jaffna. T
The Hayleys Group has chosen the northern peninsula’s capital Jaffna as the location for the first of a new-concept Group showroom branded “The World of Hayleys. (W.o.H.)”
Designed to showcase the diversified blue chip conglomerate’s multifarious products and services under one roof in a physical representation of the rationale behind its corporate logo, the new showroom opened at Jaffna’s Stanley Road and is to be replicated later in Colombo, the Group said.
This first ‘W.o.H. outlet was inaugurated in the presence of a distinguished gathering and a cross section of the people of Jaffna.
“The depth and scope of the businesses that Hayleys is involved in makes presenting the Group to the public through its products and services at a single location a huge challenge,” the Group’s Chairman Mohan Pandithage said.
“Nevertheless we have made a commendable effort to do so, and selected Jaffna as our first location in acknowledgement of the role Hayleys can play in its post-conflict revival as well as our historic links with the North.”
He said the Hayleys name was known among the farming community in the north, since Group companies had supplied agricultural inputs and advisory services to the peninsula from the early 1960s. “Unfortunately, the north became inaccessible to many of our Group’s newer products and services for the past 25 years, a situation we hope to rectify as speedily as possible,” Pandithage added.
W.o.H. extends to 2,000 square feet on two floors, with the ground floor dedicated to the display of diverse products, from coir and rubber floor mats and coverings, cushions, mattresses, household rubber gloves, activated carbon face masks and odour removal products to personal care products, fast moving consumer goods, lighting products, cameras and film, agricultural inputs, value-added agricultural produce, agro equipment and power generators.
Information and access to services such as transportation and cargo logistics and travel services will also be accessible through this outlet.
“In all, W.o.H. will showcase more than 150 products and services and accommodate over 600 stock-keeping units,” Hayleys Group Director Rizvi Zaheed said. “It will also serve as a nucleus for exploring business opportunities and sustainable partnerships such as outgrower programmes which Hayleys have successfully set up in other parts of the country.”
He said Hayleys companies in the Agri Inputs sector had maintained links with the Jaffna farmers even through the times of conflict, while the Group’s brush brand “Ravi” had enjoyed strong equity in the peninsula. Hayleys Group employs more than 33,000 people and accounts for 2.3% cent of Sri Lanka’s export income.
