A family business which started at the back yard of a small house in Panadura by a young couple has today become Sri Lanka’s largest independent lubricants manufacturing company.
Firmly rooted in Panadura as Royal Marketing, the company also diversified to manufacture over 100 products and are now into exports as well.
The founder’s father, Piyadasa Perera served in the Royal Army as a Sergeant Major for over eight years and served in several parts of the world during the Second World War. He had many memories during the War and since he wanted to leave a memory behind, he named his son, the founder of the company, as Royal Wasantha Perera.
Royal Wasantha after completing his education started his career as a sailor and travelled all over the world. During these visits he was exposed to the world and saw the opportunities that were available. After been a sailor for six years he wanted to start his own business in Sri Lanka and saw the vacuum for a ‘mini’ Greece pack.
He then purchased large barrels of Greece and packed them into smaller tins and sold each 100 gram tin for Rs. 12. The packaging of Greece under the brand name ‘Royal Greece’ was done at the backyard of his home with his wife, Indrani until wee hours of the night.
Every week he used to carry the products and travel around Sri Lanka to sell them. He priced each tin at Rs. 12. He returned home after three four days with his bags empty but with cash in his hand to reinvest for bigger quantities of ‘Royal Super Greece’.
Business caught the market and his first major investment was for a van (LH30) which he bought to transport Royal Greece to garages, motor bike garages and fishing boat repair centres and other places.
With the demand increasing and finding tins for packaging difficult and plastic packaging cans almost not available, he invested on a plastic molding machine from Ratmalana for Rs. 450,000. Armed with this machine the company stated manufacturing small plastic cans for packing of Greece in large numbers.
With confidence and also employing two workers he expanded his product line to re-pack mini engine, oil, lubricant oil and power steering oil cans.
Taking a bold step he obtained a Rs. 25, 000 credit from Seylan Bank and moved operations to the industrial estate in Panadura. Setting up a high quality Technological Supervision Unit, Royal Marketing diversified from a packaging company to manufacturing their own products. These included Radiator Coolant, Air Freshener, Car Wash, Rubber Grease, Battery Water, Battery Terminals and multiple washing liquid.
Making maximum use of the plastic moulding machine and also fulfilling a huge vacuum in the industrial market Royal Marketing also commenced manufacturing plastic bottles, cans, buckets and various plastic containers to modern attractive appearance for the open market under the name Royal Plastic Company.
Royal Marketing stole global attention when they designed and manufactured Sri Lanka’s first Anti Mosquito Spray. “We must also thank the Medical Research Institute and Industrial Technology Institute Sri Lanka for assisting our R&D team.”
This ground breaking products now available in all super markets are also used in both Government and Private Hospitals. This ground breaking product also brought in haul awards to Royal Wasantha Perera including the prestigious Deshamanya Award.
Inspired by this he introduced the first distilled battery water plastic bottle to Sri Lanka which also became a major success.
The Marketing Manager, Pradeep Jayawardane who was has served the Company for 18 years said that they also obtained several ISO Certifications. “Armed with these Certifications we are now looking at direct exports and have already started exports to the Maldives recently through the recently concluded Hotel Asia Exhibition”.
“Our next target is the Gulf and then to other Asian countries.”
The Company has been locally manufacturing Fish Plates which are required for the Sri Lankan Government Railway. Earlier these items were imported from India and at present the Company has been assisting the Sri Lankan Government to minimize its import exchange cost.
Grooming his children to take up responsibilities of the company, his eldest son, Janith Chanuka Perera after completing a Marketing Degree in Australia has been appointed as a Deputy Director while his daughter Omali Perera is undergoing extensive training within the Company to become a Director. His wife, Indrani Perea is now the CEO of the Company.
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