"The most selfless person I have ever met in business."

That's how Kiarne describes Dilhan C. Fernando, Chairman and CEO of Dilmah Tea, after sitting down with him for this episode.

Dilhan runs one of the world's best-known tea brands in the world, and by his own admission, he could triple Dilmah's profits tomorrow. Kiarne sits down with him to find out what it actually costs to run a business on purity of origin, ethical growing and a founding promise never to compromise.

Dilhan walks through the value model his father built the company on: social impact first, environmental restoration second, and profit deliberately at the end. They talk about agroforestry that drops yields, twelve years of biochar trials and why they have a single-origin promise. Dilhan teaches us about the family's charitable foundation and conservation arm, the bats now helping grow tea and why three of his children have chosen to join the business too.

You'll hear and learn:

• Why Dilhan compares a bag of Dilmah tea to a bottle of wine, and what that says about why they don’t blend tea across regions
• How bat research at Dilmah's Genesis Centre is helping them grow tea
• The three-part value model behind Dilmah's business, and where profit actually lands on that list
• What twelve years of testing one unusual soil technique revealed about growing tea through drought

This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to understand what genuine, structural sustainability actually costs, and why one family has chosen it for three generations running.

MENTIONS:

• Dilmah Tea
• MJF Charitable Foundation
• Dilmah Conservation
• Genesis Dilmah Centre for a Sustainable Future
• Biodiversity Sri Lanka
• UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka
• Conscious Food Systems Summit, Bhutan
• Sri Lanka Climate Summit 2026
• Sri Lanka's National Export Development Plan

LINKS:

Learn more about SustainabilityTracker

Learn more about The Sustainable Transformation Podcast

Follow The Sustainability Tracker on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok

Follow Nova Podcasts on Instagram for videos from the podcast and behind-the-scenes content – @novapodcastsofficial

CREDITS:

Host: Kiarne Treacy

Guest: Dilhan C Fernando

Guest Company: Dilmah

Find more great podcasts like this at novapodcasts.com.au

Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we produced this podcast, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation.

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