Editing Merrill J. Fernando (section)

===Career===
Fernando started his career in tea when he was just 20 years old as a tea assistant with A. F. Jones and Company,[a] a tea exporting company run by Arthur Frederick Jones and his sons Dennis and Alan Jones, where he was appointed managing director in 1954.[3] In the mid-1950s, the company was in the business of selling tea in bulk to international companies for blending and reselling.[6] Fernando is credited with changing the focus of the company from its Anglocentric market to new markets such as Japan and the USSR.[10] In 1956, when a change in government looked to seize control of some foreign-owned estates, the Jones family left the country, and Fernando acquired their estates[6] via a consortium.[10] In 1962 Fernando established Ceylon Tea Services Company and Merrill J. Fernando Company, which exported loose tea to several countries, including North America and Australasia.[3]

Fernando bought his first few tea estates in the 1970s.[11] After the nationalisation of the plantations in 1971–72, Fernando stepped down to start MJF Exports, and within a few years most Australian retailers sourced their house brands from MJF.[6]

In 1982, Fernando established Ceylon Tea Services Ltd, which became one of the first companies listed as a public company on the Colombo Stock Exchange.[3] In the mid-1980s, he started negotiations with the Australian supermarket retailer Coles, eventually persuading them to stock his tea.[12] He founded Dilmah in 1985,[10] by introducing single-origin tea as competition to blended commodity tea.[12][6] The tea started with exports to Australia and New Zealand,[8] and in the 1990s to Europe and North America. In 2013, Australia made up 10 percent of Dilmah's global annual retail sales.[13] As of 2016, Dilmah tea was sold in over 100 countries.[6]

Fernando stood down as CEO of Dilmah in 2019 and was succeeded by his son Dilhan Fernando.[14]