We realized that there is going to be a 30 per cent dropout rate from school, because they can’t afford the book list next year. That is why we launched the Light a Future programme

Basically, we’ve asked other corporates to not just give us money, but to open their network. This is our tried and tested method for our Piyawara project and it worked

One anchor of our purpose is to make sure that we eliminate inequality. In those three spheres of health, education and food, if it’s inequal, there is no future for our country

With decades of development coming undone in the face of an unrelenting economic crisis, private sector leaders are once again called to support humanitarian efforts, as they have done countless times in the past, in rebuilding this resilient nation. Hemas Holdings PLC, one of Sri Lanka’s largest conglomerates is one such entity which has come forward to partner with like-minded corporates to address one of the key concerns unearthed by this crisis. In an interview with the Daily Mirror Group CEO of Hemas Holdings Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson discussed why food is at the heart of this problem they are trying to tackle. 

“Now is the time we need to address things which matter to society. Food security came from two points. Even about five or six years ago, there was a data point which indicated that kids were malnourished in Sri Lanka.” 
“After the pandemic, and the economic crisis that followed, we were trying to find the pulse of what society was feeling, in relation to our products. We were a Sri Lankan company, serving the Sri Lankan people. We wanted to understand the shift in their consumption patterns. We realized that quite frankly – their biggest problem was that they couldn’t even afford a proper meal,” she said. 

 An internal survey conducted by Hemas revealed that their employees in the strata which earn less than Rs. 75,000 were struggling. “One big problem was –again – how do you feed your family?  Around six months ago, we started this project internally just to make sure that our staff actually had support, in terms of accessing dry rations and other things,” she said. 

 Many companies have had to make similar interventions to sustain their staff, especially in the wake of a global pandemic. However, the CEO stressed that this year’s problems required a different approach. “During COVID the reason was different; they didn’t have access to food and other requirements. Now with inflation, we realized that their basics were not met. Somewhere around March this year, we realized that this is especially high in the urban cities where there are vulnerable communities. The cost of living in Colombo versus the cost of living in, let’s say – Moneragala, that is quite different. So we had to ask ourselves, how do you crack that?”

 
 Food: at the core of a crisis
 Taking care of the Hemas family was the priority, Kasturi reiterated. “But what we could do internally within the Hemas family, externally, I realized we can’t do it alone.” While keeping families fed were still a priority, they also began to realize that there was a lot of absenteeism in schools after the pandemic.  

  “We were not sure what it was,” she recalled. They came to this understanding especially with their work with project Piyawara. The project, which aims to promote Early Childhood Care and Development by building child-friendly preschools across Sri Lanka, hopes to bring a holistic approach to Sri Lanka’s preschool education system. “Here too, we were feeling absenteeism. 

At the same time, it rounded down to food. It really meant that they didn’t have access to a proper meal and that the kids didn’t have the energy to come to school. The parents simply didn’t send them to school. We recognized the problem, but it was a problem that was too big for us to crack.  We are not in the food business. But we knew we couldn’t ignore it”

 Kasturi recalled that this was when several corporates began to talk to them about this problem. “First it was Dialog who called and said, Kasturi, this is a big problem, how do we address this?  They were going to start something, and I said whatever you are starting, we’ll partner. Soon MAS Holdings came onboard,” she recalled the birth of their first project ‘Manudam Mahewara’, an emergency relief initiative spearheaded by Dialog 
Axiata PLC. 

 “The intention was for like-minded corporates to get together and create an ecosystem where people can plug in and support the vulnerable, she said. Over the next couple of weeks, several other corporates came on board with contributions in kind,” Soon after, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka launched a facility to enable interested private sector organizations to partner and contribute towards procurement of urgent medical supplies and address food security needs. 

 Asked of how Hemas employees feel about the company’s outreach projects, the Group CEO said their employees too are feeling the strains of the country’s economy. “But in society, there is a notion that when you give, you receive more. So when our employees are a part of this process, they feel blessed. They forget their worries, because they have a sense of gratitude and privilege. When we did a project in Dankotuwa, one feedback was that they were so touched that they were part of the project. They wanted to do it again in a couple of months. Everybody’s stories were known. It becomes personal,” she said.

 As families and communities come under strain, girls and boys are more likely to be taken out of school due to worsening economic constraints, they found. “From an education perspective, we tried to find out what the needs were going to be like next year, how the kids are going back to school from online education, and how they are going to perform. We realized that there is going to be a 30 per cent dropout rate from school, because they can’t afford the book list next year. That is why we launched the Light a Future programme,” she said. 

 Light a future is an initiative with the aim of enabling 100,000 vulnerable children to stay in school.  “The intention of that is, we get contributions, we create crowdfunding and we give school supplies at cost, while we also handle the logistics until the supplies reach the kid. Sarvodaya meanwhile identifies the children who can’t afford and their booklist. This is our model. Basically, we’ve asked other corporates to not just give us money, but to open their network. This is our tried and tested method for our Piyawara project and it worked. Our brand ambassador Roshan Mahanama created another network. That ecosystem was built on trust. You trust that every party does their role.”

 
Why act now?
 The group firmly believes that its financial performance and brand image are closely linked to their social responsibility efforts, Kasturi shared.  “Basically our commitment is to make sure that the society doesn’t crumble around us. They need to have their basics. Health, food and education are three fundamental areas we need to address. And that’s part of our purpose,” Kasturi explained.

 “One anchor of our purpose is to make sure that we eliminate inequality. In those three spheres of health, education and food, if it’s inequal, there is no future for our country. We’ve done a lot on health, even before and after the pandemic, but that’s because we are in that business. Being in that business, if you don’t do anything, that’s just hypocrisy.” 

 Why is it important that corporates band together at this time, we ask. “Traditionally what has happened is, giving back to the community has been looked at as a PR exercise. You take up an initiative, it impacts one household or ten households. Then you do a splash on the paper and you think you are good. You are putting your brand out there. Gone are the days you do that!”

 Kasturi believes that companies driven with a clear purpose don’t take up social responsibility because they want recognition. “You do it because you need to be able to look at the society and say, I’ve earned my social license to operate here. For Hemas particularly, we are a Sri Lankan company who serves the Sri Lankan community. We can’t expect our companies to survive if the community is really struggling.”

 “What business of food does MAS Holdings have when they pledged their support?” questioned the CEO. “Likeminded companies, we don’t do it for profit return, we give it because I think it’s our duty to do that. If we are to battle this problem which is bigger than any one of our balance sheets, we need to collectively do it,” she stressed. 

 “How big is the problem? How do you make sure there is an ecosystem which actually reaches the right person?” These are the questions that need to be asked, she added. “Because this problem isn’t going away! It is going to take a couple of years, till we bring businesses, attract investment and get people back into economic activity, economic activity which makes them self-sufficient. As Sri Lankan corporates we also have obligations to our shareholders, but one key stakeholder is our community. If you want to do large, impactful projects, we must collaborate.” 
PIC BY NIMALSIRI EDIRISINGHE