Has your brand found its true purpose?

Daily FT Guest Column by Santosh Menon

Monday, 29th July

Kushil Gunasekera was just another boy in Seenigama, albeit one from a privileged family. His father was a prominent lawyer and they owned property and riches. Like any young boy he had many friends in his village and they would play together all the time. He felt his friends were just like him – smart, young and eager.

When the time came for him to be educated he was sent to Colombo. After his education when he returned to his village he found these friends of his, as smart and eager as he was in his childhood, were left behind and did not have the opportunities he had. But due to his Colombo stint he had far more skills and job opportunities.

At that point his life developed purpose and he created ‘Foundation of Goodness’, an institution that is now helping 28,000 rural beneficiaries annually from 400 villages free of charge from 11 empowerment centres islandwide with the flagship holistic community model in Seenigama. These are centres imparting skills to thousands across Sri Lanka, and ensuring that smart young people don’t need to come to Colombo to be assured of a bright future.

Kushil says he was externally rich and internally poor earlier but internally rich now with this purposeful venture.

Like Kushil, brands too must find its own purpose. And with that they will find new direction, energy and focus. Greater consumer loyalty, a new set of consumers, increased engagement on social media, and motivated and improved employee retention are some of the results of creating brands with purpose.

Click on the link to explore the other Brands that Santosh speaks about:

http://www.ft.lk/columns/Has-your-brand-found-its-true-purpose/4-682808