I promised fun to those gathered at this year’s European Families in Business Awards in Madrid. A celebration of people and companies doing well. And also of individuals enjoying the challenge of their work, fizzing with success at what they’ve created, and with joy at overcoming their obstacles. |
Instead, I’ll leave it to Merrill Joseph Fernando to tell his own “rags to riches” story. He was one of several speakers to come from outside Europe (we had attendees from India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, the US and the Middle East). He wasn’t eligible to win these European awards - but he won the hearts of all. |
From nowhere, it’s become a global phenomenon - supplying the highest quality Ceylon tea to high-end customers - while also lifting its employees out of poverty. Merrill believes in helping his workers and their families towards wealth, health and better education. After all, he started with very little himself.
If you can spare 20 minutes to listen to this man’s gentle and honeyed voice, you’ll learn something about what motivates a man to build a company, and improve the lives of others along the way, and how his faith plays an important part too…
You can hear the reactions of the sparkling winners of the family business awards in this video...