The year 2023 sees tea industry titan Merrill J. Fernando mark his 93rd birthday and 73 years in the Lankan tea industry. Dilmah Tea was thrilled to launch Fernando’s autobiography – ‘The Story of Ceylon Teamaker’ – to mark the occasion.  

Dilmah Tea, founded by Fernando in 1988, is synonymous with quality Ceylon Tea. ‘The Story of Ceylon Teamaker’ captures Fernando’s entire life story, starting from his childhood in the village of Pallansena near Kochchikade right up to 2020, shining a light on what drives him as a teamaker, disruptor in the tea industry, and as a servant to the communities around him. 

In a previous interview with The Sunday Morning Brunch on the occasion of his 90th birthday and 70 years in the tea industry, Fernando said: “It is crucial in business to operate with a generous heart and to never compromise on quality to make bigger profits. If you do that, the whole concept of your business is destroyed.” 

Looking through ‘The Story of Ceylon Teamaker,’ it is clear that this ethos is what has driven Fernando all through his career. Dilmah Tea began because of Fernando’s dream to build a brand from tea grown exclusively in Sri Lanka that not only celebrated the quality and flavour but also recognised the toil of the people creating that product. It was also his dream to use the profits of this brand to better the lives of the less affluent, which led to the formal founding of the MJF Foundation.

‘The Story of Ceylon Teamaker’ is something Fernando worked closely on with its narrator Anura Gunasekera, a tea industry professional who has worked in the plantation industry since 1968 and who has worked with the MJF Group since 2011. 

Speaking to Brunch, Gunasekera explained his part in bringing ‘The Story of Ceylon Teamaker’ to life: “‘The Story of Ceylon Teamaker’ is Merrill Fernando’s voice. It has been gathered from his notes as well as hundreds of conversations with him over the last few years.” 

Initially approached by Fernando and his son Dilmah Tea CEO Dilhan Fernando to work on a biography telling Fernando’s story, Gunasekera realised that this powerful story would be much more impactful as an autobiography and set to work using his skill as a narrator to tell Fernando’s story. 

In addition to conversations with Fernando himself and the expansive notes he had to refer to, Gunasekera also interviewed those who had worked with Fernando and looked through old correspondence to paint the most in-depth picture of the life and times of Merrill J. Fernando. 

Speaking on how Fernando had personally inspired him, Gunasekera said: “I have worked with a lot of people in my time and have met many outstanding people, but I can quite honestly say that I have never met anyone like Merrill Fernando. He is the most extraordinary man I have met. When I started working with him I had already put in 45 years working in this industry, but it was still a very sharp learning experience. He was relentlessly excited in what he did and he basically set the benchmark when it came to work ethics.” 

Another of the most inspiring things about working with Fernando was his approachability, with Gunasekera sharing that all through his career, Fernando had made a very clear point to be completely accessible to all his employees and had always taken the time to meet with and listen to anyone who had asked to meet him. 

Gunasekera also shared his hope that ‘The Story of Ceylon Teamaker’ would serve as an inspiration not just to those in the tea industry, but to all Sri Lankans across all industries on the importance of hard work, perseverance, and generosity. 

“There are a number of lessons to be taken away from the book,” he said. “One is that you always need to work off a platform of authenticity and integrity. Others are that as long as you believe in what you’re doing, you should not just give up; that the ability to inspire confidence and belief in the people around you is one of the most important things you can have; and that enterprises have an obligation to give back to society. This has always been Merrill Fernando’s ethos and this is what I have tried to project in ‘The Story of Ceylon Teamaker’.”