A 16-year-old boy, inspired by his father, started his first business – a store – out of his bedroom, with his brother. He sold goods at a premium to his father, bought using money he obtained from his father. “My dad went along with it,” shared SOZO Beverages (Pvt) Ltd. Managing Director Dushyantha De Silva. This was the starting point of his entrepreneurial journey.
Recently featured by Forbes in its seventh annual ‘30 Under 30 Asia’ The Arts (Art and Style, Food and Drink) list, De Silva feels proud about how far he’s come. Yet, he’s also confronted with the fact that he is just getting started, and this excites him.
Together with his wife Gianee, De Silva started SOZO as an experiment in their home kitchen and today, the company is supplying iced teas, craft juices, and syrups to 300+ locations in Sri Lanka, to over 15 venues in the Maldives, to gourmet stores in Switzerland and Hong Kong, and they’re on their way to many more markets across the world.
“I stayed up one night creating all sorts of concoctions using kitchen ingredients, designed the labels the next day and by the third day, we supplied to our first customer, The English Cake Company. We put in about Rs. 60,000 to buy the first water boiler and basic equipment, and well, the rest is history,” shared De Silva. Most of his childhood was also spent in the jungles, where he developed his love for nature and photography.
We caught up with the man who says he isn’t conscious of the fact that he’s an entrepreneur, to discuss beverages and business. Here are some excerpts from the chat.
Why iced tea beverages?
My first start-up was a tea company (TEAELI). At a small stall that we operated at the Good Market, we retailed gourmet leaf teas but also made small batches of iced teas. We would always have a line of iced teas, not so much for the tea leaves, so it was only natural we started with the iced teas. Later on, we found out that it was a totally under-explored category and sales skyrocketed. We branched out into craft juices in 2017 and into cocktail syrups in 2020.
What’s it like to work with your wife?
I can’t imagine a world where I did not. Gianee has been the absolute backbone to this whole operation. In the early days, she used to have a day job so our normal routine would be for me to do production all day, pick her up from work, do production together till the following morning and drop her at work. This went on day after day, week after week. Today, she runs the Operations and Manufacturing division and is my closest advisor and best friend. I think we’ve found a way to separate our work and personal lives. It just works. These days, she is reminding me to bring in a work-life balance, which I admit I need so badly.
Your products are said to be made with 100% natural ingredients and no preservatives. Why was this important to you as a brand?
It was absolutely important because I was personally tired of all the artificial beverages that would line the supermarket shelves, where choice was next to none. We didn’t go ‘all natural’ just to differentiate ourselves. It wasn’t a strategy. This was what we believed in.
You became an entrepreneur at age 19 with TEAELI. Does the entrepreneurial gene run in the family?
I think I can safely say yes, as my dad – H. Lasantha De Silva – started the first-ever manufacturing facility for Disneyland in Sri Lanka at the age of 25. He’s one of my biggest influences.
What about being an entrepreneur interests you? What scares or challenges you?
I don’t think I’m conscious of the fact that I’m ‘an entrepreneur,’ which I guess has a lot of appeal for many. For me, that’s the role I play but being in this position is interesting because of the exhilarating feeling you get when you see your products go across the country, go across borders, and when you get to work with amazing people – our farmers, mixologists, work colleagues, suppliers, and our customers. There’s never a dull moment.
Growth is challenging because growth requires change, right across the board. This means everything has to be reworked from scratch in most cases across all your stakeholders. But growth is great and we are currently in a phase where demand exceeds supply.
How has the current crisis affected operations? How are you overcoming it?
Since we started in 2016, we only had two years before we were hit full force with political instability and the Easter attacks in 2019 to the following years of Covid-19 and now the economic crisis. Usually 90% of start-ups fail within the first five years, under normal circumstances. Nothing prepared us for what was ahead of us when we started, but we are still here, growing over 100%, year on year, adapting fast and doing our best to foresee challenges and adapt all over again.
In 2020, when we had the first lockdown, we launched a delivery service out of a single car that went around Colombo, which is now a fully-fledged operation based out of Expo Lanka’s warehouses that can deliver orders to Jaffna within 24 hours. Our e-commerce channel has grown 2000% year on year since 2020.
Currently, we are facing a huge shortage of raw materials, packaging materials, and power to run the factories. The great thing about our small but mighty team is that we never give up. We find solutions daily and keep moving forward.
Your thoughts on Sri Lanka’s economy right now?
It’s a terrible situation and as we all know, one that’s felt across all of society, but all we can do is have a positive mindset, be free of judgement, and keep moving (wisely) so that we can attract good things. I don’t spend too much time getting caught up with the situation to be honest – I’m just laser focused on daily momentum. What has to happen will happen.
How important are entrepreneurial activities such as yours in a climate like this?
This is the perfect time for entrepreneurs to rise up. Recessions and hardships create entrepreneurship because the safety of a corporate job becomes scarce, salary cuts drive down disposable income and leave people in a state of thinking ‘I’ve got nothing to lose’. I’m excited to see what great businesses spring forth from this current crisis – there is so much opportunity to manufacture various products in Sri Lanka and reduce dependency on imports. That’s timely in a crisis like this and I would imagine high demand too for locally manufactured goods.
What are your projections for ventures such as yours in the next 10 years?
I believe that companies that do not give up now but keep going during this crisis are the ones that will own the next decade and beyond. My own projection is that SOZO will become one of the top three beverage companies in Sri Lanka in the next 10 years and a leading exporter.
What are your dreams for SOZO?
I have so many, but one of the next ones is to board a flight and see SOZO being served onboard and walk into some of the world’s leading hotels, open the mini bar and sit back in awe, while I look at a couple of SOZOs. I think we are going to achieve this very soon. It will happen.
Three words you’d use to describe yourself?
Focused, but maybe sometimes too focused and in need of a bit more fun. Sensitive, though my outer shell usually communicates otherwise. Passionate, which comes naturally in everything I choose to do.
Anything else you’d like to add?
We recycle, so if you have empty bottles lying at home, get in touch with us to arrange a drop off or collection.
Website: sozoiced.com
Instagram: @sozoiced
