Mega Lifesciences glow in world market

Expat Chit Chat

The company Mega Lifesciences was established in 1983. In 2001 we started operations in Sri Lanka. We are in three continents. This month we expanded into the Latin American continent.

Ruwanthi Abeyakoon

Mega Lifesciences is engaged in manufacturing, marketing, selling and distributing medicines - nutritional, herbal, OTC-drugs and prescription-drugs in developing countries. It operates in more than 25 Countries from Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa, CIS-Countries, Latin America and Europe.

Country Manager, Praveen Viswakumaran revealed the future plans and company's strategies to `Expat chit chat.'

What were the recent launches you had?

Recently we launched `Glow', a skin nutrient and it has a good market. Sri Lanka is one of the first markets Glow was introduced to. Through this product we try to build the concept of skin nutrient, which is important for everybody. We have also introduced this product to markets in Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Ukraine.

What do you think of the Sri Lankan market?

Sri Lanka is a good market. It is not a very big market.

The market here is around US$ 100 million. But it is a growing market. The products are popular and we can develop our novel concepts expanding the market share.

What can you say about the international presence of the company?

The company Mega Lifesciences was established in 1983. In 2001 we started operations in Sri Lanka. We are in three continents. This month we expanded into the Latin American continent.

Our manufacturing plants are based in Thailand and in Australia. We conform to the WHO standard and quality control standard. We manufacture own products and do our own distributions. We market the products ourselves. There are 400 specialists within the company.

They are professionals and know their work well. We have 60 products in the global market. There are nutrition, food suppliant, herbal products, cosmaseuticals. We educate people and improve their confidence.

We take one step beyond and create products to prevent the problems rather than products of cure. We have a host of products and out of the total products 17 are available in the Sri Lankan market.

How do you handle competitors in the market?

The competitors are unique. We welcome competition. I think it is better when two or three people talk about products with similar qualities than one person introducing it. The end result is the consumer will benefit choosing the best product.

The competitors should be honest. Our philosophy is respect, truth and trust. We hope every competitor is honest. We create markets. We don't capture others share. We try to find out the non-users and reach them.

What is your experience working with a local staff?

I have 23 people working with me. Everyone works towards a single goal. I was able to make my staff practice the company culture. All of us work hard to achieve our goals. All my employees are qualified in their work. We will improve productivity.

When the competition becomes harder they will have to go the extra mile and become more ambitious. I find it easy to work with and they respond well to the situations. Working with locals have been fairly successful. The turnover has grown and we hope to increase our sales in future.

How are the marketing strategies designed to capture the market?

All the marketing strategies are locally designed. We have qualified persons who develop marketing strategies to reach the consumers.

Every department gets the best attention. We also pass the know how to our consumers. We don't take our products to consumers through models and attractive advertisements. We want the consumers to believe in the product before purchasing. We have chosen our product users as brand ambassadors.

What are your plans for 2008?

We have a lot of product launches lined up this year. Our target is a sale of US $ 2 million. We have unique products to introduce. Nourishing night oil, acne management product for teenagers, slimming range are some of the products we will introduce. We have planned to launch a product every month. We have several pharmaceuticals to be introduced.

How did you get the opportunity to work in Sri Lanka?

Coming to Sri Lanka was my sheer luck. I was offered three options, to work in Kenya, Philippines or Sri Lanka. I chose Sri Lanka because of geographical reasons. It was closer to India and travelling was easy.

Another reason was the beaches. I like to relax in the seaside. It is a wonderful country. I have travelled to several parts of the country including Jaffna, Batticaloa, and Trincomalee. There are no regrets working in Sri Lanka so far.

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My Boss

Surekha Fernando, Secretary to the Country Manager said she gathers a lot of experience working under an expat. " It is easy to work with him. I have been working here for more than a year. I enjoy my work a lot.

I have worked earlier in two other places. The experience I get at Mega Lifescience is different. We work as a team. Sometimes my boss is like a friend. He assists me in my work. He corrects me when I go wrong. I enjoy working for him," she said.