Sipsayuri Poth Medura Kandy will be opening Sri Lanka’s first super market type book store which is the biggest stationery outlet outside Western Province in Tennekumbura Kandy on December 20.
The mentor behind the project, C. B. Nishantha Basnayake said that they had observed that parents as well as students go to many shops to purchase their educational material spending considerable time. “Some time they also purchase substantial material and to bring all educational needs under one roof and provide high quality material at affordable prices we will open Sipsayuri Poth Medura in Tennekumbura on December 20.”
He said that they have imported about 60% of material from overseas while the balance is from Sri Lanka giving an opportunity for local products too and some of their own publications and material too would be marketed here.”
Basnayake recalled that he started his entrepreneurial journey way back in 1991 as a mathematics teacher and then moved on to holding ‘education material trade fairs’ all over the country. “For this I purchased education books from all leading publishers and in a few months I was their largest buyer. I can also recall that one of the biggest investments I made during this time was to purchase a Toyota lorry for RS. 9,000 to transport exhibition material.”
Due to the growing demand for my book sales fairs, I then decided to hire qualified staff and writers to publish my own ‘probable school exam question papers’ which were much sought after even now.
“Due to the huge demand I obtained the services of three printing presses for this endeavor and later invested Rs. 16 million in 2009 to have my own printing press and office with 60 staff including writers in Katugastota, elevating me to a fully-fledged publisher.”
This publishing house was followed up by opening my first own ‘book store’ in Asgiriya with an investment for Rs. 50 million. I must also thank Hatton National Bank for providing me credit at very flexible terms.”
During this time, I also participated in several overseas book exhibitions and in India I got an opportunity to market a Sri Lankan English novel (by Kapila Kumara Kalinga) published by us to the Indian market. Commenting on today’s demographics, he said that demand for educational books has not decreased due to online presence and nor will it happen in the next decade.
“The 18% VAT on books is having a toll on the sector and the new government should totally remove this imposed by the previous government.”
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