How Fortude and Brandix Digital are setting new benchmarks to foster a culture of continuous learning 

In this exclusive interview with The Sunday Morning, Sadiq Omar, Director at Brandix & Fortude; Oshada Senanayake, Chief Operating Officer – Digital Transformation at Brandix; and Anjalie Jasenthuliyana, Head of Talent Development and Culture at Fortude, explore Fortude’s pivotal role in driving the strategic vision, learning initiatives, and the transformative impact on Brandix’s digital journey, as Sri Lanka’s leading apparel manufacturer continues its ambitious digital transformation. Below are the excerpts of the interview:  

Q: Since its inception, it is clear that Brandix has continued its trajectory as one of the biggest innovators in the market. In your own words, please provide a brief overview of Brandix today. 

Sadiq:  Brandix is on a digital transformation journey – recognising and enabling countless opportunities in the new era of apparel. 

Interestingly, our strategic discussions occurred just around the start of the pandemic. One of the key facts we observed was how significant players such as Uber disrupted traditional sectors with their IT-driven approaches, surpassing established players with stride. For example, Amazon is, at the forefront, an IT company and is one of the largest retailers in the world, surpassing even established retailers like Walmart. Similarly, a key focus of our goal was to pivot Brandix from being a manufacturer of branded clothing to becoming a digital company that manufactures apparel. 

With the arrival of the pandemic, the need for digital services increased tenfold. This inspired utilising Fortude, Group’s digital services provider, as the vehicle for the vision. We consolidated all digital services previously provided for internal consumption at Brandix and used Fortude as the vehicle to provide those. This means that all digital services, such as infrastructure services, application services, and help desk support, are carried out by the Brandix digital team at Fortude for Brandix. 

Q: What is the vision behind mandating 12 days of learning for the Brandix Digital Team, and what are the primary goals aimed at being achieved through this initiative? 

Sadiq: Our mandate to focus on learning and development is based on three factors. 

One factor was the team’s lack of exposure to technology. When discussing the transition with the team, I asked them to state one thing that irks them about the current work. The team’s response was that one of the hurdles faced in their work is that they do not get exposure to the relevant technology and do not have time to learn and explore the latest developments and updates in the technology field. This stuck with me. 

The second factor was the rapid rate at which the technology landscape constantly changes. For example, I was on vacation in 2021 with my family, so I hadn’t checked my feed in a few days. That was the time ChatGPT was released. I was talking to a cousin who was also in the tech space, who informed me about the platform’s presence. I was astounded at how quickly the world could change in just a few days. 

The third factor was the urgent need for the entire organisation to transform digitally. Every individual at Brandix needed to be able to embrace a digital mindset and inculcate this into their work. I was inspired by the flash mob story, where certain dance professionals are placed throughout the crowd, and eventually, everyone joins in. I envision creating a similar culture within our organisation—to have people who think tech and who are aware of what’s out there. 

Of course, only some of the technology may be utilised. Still, our team members must be aware of the available tools, especially when trying to solve a problem. We specifically introduced the learning initiative where everyone should spend at least 2 hours weekly on self-learning. At the start, we made this initiative optional. I actually blocked the calendar for all of my team members and informed them that they could utilise this time to put aside anything that they were doing at the moment and try to spend some time learning. We provided various resources to facilitate this, such as LinkedIn learning licenses and Udemy material. 

We at Brandix seek individuals who possess the hunger to learn because we believe that a passion for growth and thriving is crucial to progress in an ever-changing landscape. 

Q: How much did a dedicated HR presence impact the transition of the Digital team from Brandix to becoming a core team at Fortude? 

Sadiq: It was very critical. They say it takes two hands to clap. This collaboration was only possible with the desire of our leadership and the dedicated assistance provided by HR. I thank numerous individuals for putting in much work to implement this. They took the time to understand our vision and helped us elevate and realise it. In fact, they set up the entire framework. 

Q: How has a culture of continuous learning and development been fostered at Fortude, and how has it been finetuned for the Brandix Digital team? 

Anjalie: Learning and development are inculcated into Fortude’s culture. We have a ‘Culture Canvas’ that defines the behavioural traits and beliefs we want a Fortudite to showcase and this further integrates the continuous learning initiative. We are a learning organisation. 

To be in this ever-changing field of IT, you have to keep up. And the leadership teams from Brandix and Fortude believed in this initiative. It always comes top down; we believe in it, and they live in it. 

When it comes to fostering that culture, we have provided several resources for our employees to use from day 1, whether it’s our very own learning management system (LMS), Fortude Academy, and e-learning platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, which is available for every employee here at Fortude, or technical licenses that are given for specific technical teams. We also have a behavioural competency framework on which our training is centered. Working with renowned international bodies such as SHRM and CCL help us provide global exposure and training further supporting our learning culture.  

Why do we do that? We want to give our employees the best of the best. We want to stay ahead of the others in the field, and one way of doing that is by fostering an in-house culture that enables you to learn and grow. This is also reflected in our employee value proposition which is to ‘grow with Fortude’ and one way to grow is to learn. 

Q: Which strategies or practices have most effectively encouraged team members to embrace learning? 

Anjalie: Mandatory learning was a key element. Brandix Digital Operations did a fantastic job with it and is the driving force behind many of our learning hours. In light of this, we have introduced mandatory learning for everyone at Fortude. Although the initiative is labelled mandatory, once you understand the importance of upskilling to navigate the technological landscape, you want to invest in it. 

We have further incentivised these measures: those who put in the effort and hours will be duly recognised and rewarded by the company. We have learning rewards and recognitions such as spot recognitions, and in our annual award ceremony, we have a ‘Learning Champion’ award. This is just one of the many measures we have carried out to drive it as a strategy. 

Q: How important would you say this culture of continuous learning is when competing in the global marketplace? 

Oshada: Life in general as we know it and the global perception of business have entirely changed compared to the years before the pandemic. The evolution of the apparel industry has fared the same way. 

Today, technology is not an option; it’s a must. So many organisations, start-ups for that matter, are completely disrupting the way fashion works and manufacturing work. Value propositions that stood strong for many years have entirely transformed in less than a year. One of the key reasons behind the Brandix-Fortude partnership is the decision to be digital at the core. For example, how do we transform a workforce into a digital one? We have always distinguished ourselves as technology-able, but we must set ourselves apart from the competition. However, the foundational elements must be appropriately actioned to gain that competitive advantage. 

There are two aspects we looked at. One aspect is the general workforce: How do you align the rest of the organisation with today’s vision? The second aspect is inspiring a hunger within each individual to learn and grow, while staying true to our mandate and remaining ahead of the game. At the end of the day, if we are not updated and our workforce is not aligned, we will not be able to derive the benefits we want out of those 2 hours of learning every week. 

We have constantly been evolving with the market, staying attuned to emerging trends and market shifts. Our first value proposition was building phenomenal products faster than anyone else at the cheapest cost, with flawless execution and intimate service. This value proposition kept us ahead of the game for over five decades. But if we take today, what will empower us to be faster than anyone else? Providing the costs and leadership that none could offer to create these phenomenal products. Thus, the recent measures and initiatives are further inspired by the need to stay true to our value proposition in light of today’s requirements. 

Today, Brandix’s value proposition is dependent on three tenets: agility, innovation, and sustainability. It’s ironic that, as an apparel company, two of the three goals driving the business are more relatable to a tech company: agility and innovation. 

Currently, we’re carrying out some intriguing product innovations and every aspect of that is driven by technology. For example, if we talk about AI, we have recognised and integrated the concept into our day-to-day tasks. Last year, we were the first organisation in Sri Lanka to adopt Enterprise AI Solutions. The Brandix team got a glimpse of this piece of technology with hands-on experience before many, by being invited for early access programs by multiple global big techs. This enabled us to create unique new user experiences and user journeys while integrating a digital mindset across the value chain and setting a tone for future initiatives, to hyper-leap as an organization. 

We further believe that knowledge cannot simply be absorbed with linear learning – what is learned must be practised and explored, even at the risk of failure. The concept behind the learning initiative is to build an internal playground where team members can try out what they’ve learned and drive innovation, even if every measure may not always be successful, with a bold fail-fast mindset. This offers our team members a robust safety net. By encouraging this, we see significant progress today because it’s about staying true to your competitive advantage and ensuring that your value proposition actually delivers. We believe that we have achieved this and continue to set new benchmarks for ourselves, with Brandix commencing and driving a digital transformation vision, continuously breaking ground, and creating a segway into a new era of apparel manufacturing. 

Q: What significant outcomes or improvements have you seen by implementing this mandatory learning? 

Oshada: We have benefited significantly by encouraging our employees to expand their knowledge and explore what they’ve learned, especially on the AI front. For example, we have provided interns with the required AI platforms to start their own journey of learning AI, and provided with the opportunity, they created interesting AI bots and solutions. Today, we have our own AI bot called Anika. A typical problem a new employee faces when joining a company is fitting in. This AI bot, built entirely by a couple of young developers, is the most adopted platform by new joiners to assist them in naturalizing to the organization through AI-led support. 

We can talk about value propositions and visionary statements, but when talking about agility, the challenge was how to really create agility on the ground and provide relevant IT support to Brandix. Our footprint is now established worldwide, from Sri Lanka to Bangladesh and India, and to Cambodia. Today, they can create a ticket at any of these locations. But if a ticket comes in and for example, you are grappling with network issue, how would you resolve this? Earlier, we had a platform where the ticket is analysed manually and the issue in the ticket is assigned to the relevant team. This may take a few hours to a day. Does this resonate with the competitive advantage we are trying to establish? No. Today, we have built an omnichannel platform enabled with an AI engine where the AI solution identifies the type of issues and assigns them to relevant support engineers. This has enabled us to achieve a first response time reduced to mere minutes. Wherever you are in the world at Brandix, the Fortude-led Brandix Digital first response team will respond to you in less than 5 minutes. Again, this engine was built internally as an innovation project, all of which were self-learned. We only provided the opportunity and the platforms for our teams. 

The learning curve has changed the whole level of thinking. We’ve had processes designed and built for a non-technology era from an apparel perspective, but the same cannot be followed today if we are to stay ahead of the game and be digital at the core as an organization. Thus, we encourage our team members to continue expanding their knowledge and put to practice what they learn. That’s the beauty of the Fortude and Brandix collaboration, which enables an environment of not only learning but a digital playground to experiment on real-life scenarios, as generally, only the learning and technical aspect is offered in many organisations.   

Q: How will you evolve the Brandix Digital Team’s learning journey? Are there any new initiatives or areas of focus? 

Sadiq: As much as we encourage our team members to learn and grow, we encourage them to share their knowledge with others. Thus, one of the measures we have implemented is offering double the credit towards each learning hour for every hour where you teach a topic you’ve learned or a new piece of information you’ve uncovered. We want people within our organisation to share their passion and hunger to learn, grow, and inspire others similarly. We encourage our team members to share their knowledge with the tech forum and the entire organisation. 

Further, we want to expand these learning initiatives to the broader Brandix organisation so that the opportunity to learn digital skills can be provided to different stakeholders within the organisation. It may be as basic as teaching individuals who need to be more tech-savvy how to maintain good password security online or how online banking can be carried out. It could be more advanced learning opportunities, such as how to use AI models to build a power BI dashboard and how to run queries on data. We are currently working with the Brandix HR team on how we can facilitate the above. For us, it all comes back to Brandix being a digital apparel manufacturing company. This means that we need to continue to evolve down this path.