In March 2022, the then Northern Province Governor Jeevan Thiagarajah invited three Colombo based senior Tourism Professionals to serve as Board Members of the Northern Province Tourism Board. Under the Chairmanship of Mr. Sunil Dissanayake one of these members, Mr. Suresh Murugaser, identified the lack of any night activity in Jaffna as a major draw-back for visiting tourists. He convinced the rest of the Board to agree to his concept of a regular night market to be held on Saturdays. Murugaser teamed up with the Jaffna based HappyMarket to achieve this.
Happymarket.lk has been showcasing Northern Products on its website since 2019. More than that, headed by CEO Thuvaraka B Prashanthan, supported by her husband Robinson B Prashanthan, the organisation gives home-based SMEās the opportunity to be trained in all aspects of product development ā manufacturing process, minimum standards, packaging design and processes, advertising and marketing locally and internationally. Entrepreneurs are supported for client sourcing in B-2-B and B-2-C environments, Accounting and Finance. Customer Service etc. Essentially, HappyMarket provides a springboard for Individuals and SMEās as a āone-stop shopā to get to where they want to go.
With unstinting support from then Governor Thiagarajah and other local Provincial Council, Local Government and Municipal Council officials, they were able to convince the local Archaeological Dept office to permit the use of the area behind and adjoining the Jaffna Fort. The process was quite long drawn-out, but with the support of the various parties, was ultimately successful.
The next major challenge was obtaining funding for the project. National Sri Lankan Companies other than for the Janashakthi Group, were not willing to dip their toes in the water. With just a few days remaining for Launch Date, the New York-based Synamon Global Group, headed by Mr. Raj Rajaratnam, decided to back the project to the hilt with an unprecedented donation, no strings attached. Rajaratnam realized what impact this would have for the Northern Community as a whole on several levels!
The first Jaffna Saturday Night Fever kicked off on June 17th 2023, and has been running continuously every Saturday, despite all the challenges, since then!
Some of the highlights are:
20 events have been held upto 4th November, running from 4pm to 10pm
Entry is free to the public
Average public participation per night is 1,500+
Average 25-30 stalls, a lot of which have been given to the stallholders free as an incentive to SMEās
Great range of food and beverage stalls
Live music, karaoke contests, dance groups
Variety of stalls selling local handicrafts, bottled and packeted food, nuts, pickles, palmyrah products, leather ware, clothes etc
A family-friendly atmosphere has been created with a number of childrenās and adultsā games ā basketball shooting, ring toss, archery, darts, coconut shy etc
Eco-friendly environment, with bins provided, municipal washrooms, plastic-free zones, immediate post-event ground-cleaning and rubbish storage
From the comments received, the Northern Community is overjoyed that they have something to look forward to every week. Their children now goad them into going every week
The Organisers now welcome local Corporates, wherever they are based, to contact them if they are keen on tapping into the booming Northern Economy. There is a huge opportunity in the steady flow of Indian Tourist and Trader-based traffic, with daily flights and a ferry service direct to Jaffna between the two countries. This is in addition to many other foreign tourists and Southerners travelling from Colombo wanting to savour the wide array of Northern attractions.
Several sponsorship opportunities to support Saturday Night Fever are up for grabs for the savvy Corporate!
By Suresh Murugaser