Dilmah among Most Admired Companies for 4th consecutive year

Darshana Gunasekera Group Finance Director receiving the award from Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay, associated with the presentation are Rosy Senanayake, Mayor of Colombo and Nisthar Cassim, Editor Daily FT

Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLC has been selected – for the 4th consecutive year - as one of the 10 Most Admired Companies in Sri Lanka, for performance beyond convention and creating value for shareholders, customers, employees and the wider community. 

The Most Admired Companies is jointly awarded by the International Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (ICCSL), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the Daily FT and assurance partner – KPMG.
Selection follows comprehensive, independent evaluation by a panel of judges chaired by Ravi Abeysuriya, consisted of Hajar Alafifi, Rolf Blaser, Sunil Dissanayake, Varuni Amunugama Fernando, Santosh Menon, Faizal Salieh, Sulochana Sigera, and Deepal Sooriyaarachchi.

Following initial financial evaluation by CIMA, a shortlist of the best performing 20 organisations was considered by the judges for their performance across multiple parameters including human relationships, teamwork, innovation, product integrity & value, ethics & sustainability as well as a progressive attitude. 

Dilmah Tea was formed by its founder Merrill J. Fernando with the unique pledge to serve humanity through business. The fulfillment of that philosophy is underpinned by a commitment to sharing earnings from Dilmah Tea with the less fortunate. 

With over Rs. 5 billion already spent by the Merrill J. Fernando Foundation, on disability, gender equality, nutrition, education, entrepreneurship development, vocational training, Dilmah additionally funds Dilmah Conservation to promote conservation, restoration and environmental education.

Amidst the pandemic related challenges in the past year the company has maintained its commitment to its people and purpose, with enhanced welfare, medical, nutrition and education initiatives amongst the tea plantation community and a stronger commitment to environmental sustainability. The emphasis the company maintains on sincerely fulfilling its commitment to serving humanity was lauded by the judges. 

Dilmah CEO, Dilhan C. Fernando explained, “Our faith determines our values and our values determine our actions,  it was important for us therefore to protect our people and escalate our welfare and health initiatives in the community. The scale of the humanitarian and environmental challenges is unprecedented. 

Recognising that the purpose of business is unequivocally changed by these circumstances, we make every effort to honour my father’s commitment to make our business a matter of human service.”

Dilmah has been voted ‘Most Trusted Brand’ by consumers in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. The company was also selected as one of Forbes Asia’s Best Under a Billion in 2020. A minimum 15% of the company’s pretax profitsis used to support direct humanitarian and environmental initiatives through the work of the MJF Foundation and Dilmah Conservation.