Greetings from Dilmah Tea

Dear Willowers,

At the close of yet, another year, I write to record my sincere appreciation of your support in creating awareness of Dilmah Tea, and our commitment to quality and our ethical purpose. My commitment to share our success with the poor, the disable, the underprivileged and the wider community, has made our business a matter of human service. It is my hope that other successful businesses may, sooner or later, share their success and make our world a better place for everyone.

My family and I are humbled by the accolades that our Dilmah and I have received – no individual could have achieved these alone, and therefore I thank God and everyone who has supported me in my mission. As a tea grower in an industry dominated by large corporations, I could only dream of the progress that Dilmah has made and I owe that achievement to my God and to the many workers, customers, media and friends who helped me along the way. The national Deshamanya award, one of the highest national honours in Sri Lanka and the Honorary Doctorate conferred on me by Massey University in New Zealand are equally a tribute to my customers, to the philosophy of sharing business success with our community and environment and to Dilmah.

The contribution of 10% from every single company in the MJF Group’s pre tax profits, are assigned to the MJF Charitable Foundation. That commitment has so far generated $ 40 million of direct humanitarian aid and environmental interventions. Every dollar we spend on charity is lending to God according to the Holy Bible and he repays us in abundance. Thousands of children, young women and men, impoverished adults, farmers, war widows, have been touched by my Foundation. Endangered species, degraded eco-systems and agriculture benefited from the work of Dilmah Conservation, environmental education, climate adaptation and advocacy. That makes me so very happy. Now – as I approach my 70th year in tea, I am changing my pledge. This year, I am increasing the mandatory contribution of 10% of pretax profits by 50%. Every business has an obligation to share its success with those that need it, and to be a part of the solution to inequality, global warming and the multitude of other threats that we face today. We are a small, family business, we cannot do this alone, but we have to do more.

I thank God, every one of my customers, my family and team at Dilmah, and every friend of Dilmah for making my dream come true. Thank you for making every cup of Dilmah, a cup of kindness. My family, my colleagues and all my staff join me in wishing you, your family and your team a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Successful New Year blessed with Plenty and Contentment.