Nelna celebrates 20th anniversary
Under the novel concept of ‘taking our country to the fore, retaining our own identity ‘Apekama’’, the 100 percent local enterprise, Nelna celebrated its 20th anniversary in grand scale with pageantry and pomp on May 30.
Nelna, with a vision to conquer the international market while retaining the ‘Apekama’ identity, is now a large group of companies, which introduces nutritious and hygienic products to the public.
Nelna, as a brand that understands the pulse of the people, has during the past two decades expanded its business into several fields. By now, the Nelna group has diversified into Nelna Farm, Nelna Agri Business, Nelna Breeders, Nelna Feed Mill and Nelna Impex. Over 1,500 employees have been provided direct employment by Nelna and several thousand people indirect livelihood.
Nelna Group founder and Chairman is the famed Sri Lankan businessman W.G. Eddie Gunapala Nanayakkara. His wife Sita Ranjani Nanayakkara and children Punya Nanayakkara, Hemamali Nanayakkara and
Asanka Nanayakkara perform as Directors of the company.
Commenting on the 20th anniversary, Nelna Group Founder and Chairman W.G. Eddi Gunapala Nanayakkara said, “I am profusely happy that the small business that I commenced two decades ago has grown up to be a large-scale business conglomerate today. The path to success was in no means an easy journey.
There was a large crowd that stood with me in the passage that made the Nelna brand a huge success. Among them the support I received from customers and clientele, which could be considered the live line of the company, is unforgettable. Our company provides customer only high-quality and hygienic products. At no time a health hazardous product will be issued to a customer under the Nelna brand. My objective is to covert the Nelna brand, which has won the local market by winning the trust and confidence of the Sri Lankan people, a world accepted global brand.”
Nelna after identifying chicken as a cheaper and easy to obtain source of protein, which is an essential nutrition for a healthy life, has taken measures to provide the Sri Lankan public with high-quality chicken.
The main task of Nelna Farm, which is a subsidiary of the Nelna group, is the rearing and production of chicken into processed food such as sausages, meat balls to cater to the requirements of the customers. For all these products, Nelna uses only Nelna chicken and local spices, sans adding any flavouring agents and artificial colouring to maintain the high quality. The company for its management and production process has also received the ISO 9001, ISO 22 000, ISO 14100,SLS, HACCP and GMP certifications.
Nelna, in the meantime, has become the largest and main mango producer under the Nelna Mango brand and produces high-quality mangoes large scale under the TJC category for the local and foreign market. The harvest of over 70,000 mango trees spread over 500 acres is used for this purpose. Nelna has made a huge investment to produce mangoes to international standards and has won the Global GAP certification for its effort.