Maliban globally recognised once again for its world-class products
Inspiring goodness since 1954, Maliban Biscuits Manufactories ( Pvt.) Ltd which is the Sri Lanka’s most trusted and renowned biscuit manufacturer was bestowed with the coveted international ‘ Prestigious Brands of Asia 2018/19’ Award by Heralds Global & BARC Agency at an event held in Dubai recently.
Continuing the winning streak for the second consecutive year, Maliban received the global recognition at The Prestigious Brands of Asia Awards as a result of their continuous commitment to improve, sustainability, goodwill, growth and product innovation in the markets where the company operates in.
Here Group CEO of Maliban, Ravi Jayawardena shares his views with us about this honorable award and how Maliban’s journey paved way for it..
Can you briefly tell us about ‘The Prestigious Brands of Asia Awards’?
The Prestigious Brands of Asia Awards recognizes brands that have introduced authentic products or services which have contributed to transforming the country’s economy. Moreover, these brands by virtue of their unique value propositions and attributes have established an incomparable set of beacons and reinforced a profound and meaningful marketing connection with their customers.
Over 500 eminent brands representing multiple categories from countries such as Thailand, UAE, India, and Singapore were nominated for the ‘ Prestigious Brands of Asia’ award 2018/19.
What was the evaluation process of this and how did Maliban get identified?
These nominated brands underwent a stringent, three-phase evaluation process. While the first phase of research comprised of evaluating the industry reports, market surveys, and brand reports, the second phase focused on identifying the brand perception among the target audience. The final phase further scrutinized the nominated brands by rating them on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest).
The key factor which gave Maliban the edge over its competition was the company’s continuous effort to sustain its legacy by embracing innovative ways to improve its core business operations, thereby increasing the overall contribution towards the economy.
For example, the relaunch of Maliban Yaha Posha and Maliban Milk were two innovative actions taken which also paved our way to the award.
Maliban was the only local FMCG Company to win the Prestigious Brands of Asia Awards for two successive years.
How do you feel about this achievement?
This recognition is not only for us at Maliban but also for our customers spread across the world and it gives us immense pride and honor to be recognized at the Prestigious Brands of Asia Award for the second consecutive year. This award is a testament which reflects the strong commitment, dedication, and goodwill they bring into the market. We, at Maliban, have strived to provide world-class products and services to our valued customers by instilling quality and innovation in our core business operations. With our drive to become the game changer in the FMCG category, we continue to challenge ourselves to keep abreast with the dynamic trends of customer lifestyle to come up with groundbreaking products that would soothe all our loyal taste buds whether it be locally or internationally.
Maliban has expanded their distribution network, thereby enabling every Sri Lankan to enjoy the experience of worldclass products while enhancing their value creation to a wider community.
Our long-term vision is to differentiate themselves by offering innovative quality products and elevating the customer experience to a whole new paradigm.
With over 60 years of thriving since the company’s inception as Sri Lanka’s pioneer biscuit manufacturing company, Maliban has been in the golden standard with their use of world-class ingredients and state- of- the- art manufacturing processes. At the time of inception, the family members used to taste products to monitor the quality and output. To this day, this practice still continues. In the recent past, Maliban has received several prominent national and international awards from reputed awarding bodies for achieving business excellence in South Asia.
House of Maliban who pursues to provide consumers with nutritionally qualitative food, recently re-launched its breakfast cereal and snack product Maliban Yaha Posha enriched with the goodness of milk. Could you tell us about this product?
Maliban Yaha Posha is produced with locally sourced rice, corn, soya, green gram, milk vitamin, and mineral premix so as to provide families, especially the young children with a healthy, delicious and a wholesome breakfast and a snack option. Maliban Yaha Posha is marketed in 200g packages for consumer convenience.
Maliban Yaha Posha which was already a nutrient- filled breakfast and a snack option became an even more wholesome product with the addition of the goodness of milk. Moreover, the ingredients are directly bought from local farmers hence it ensures the safety and this is a purely natural way of obtaining the essential nutrients to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Given the fact that Maliban Yaha Posha is free from chemicals, added flavors, and preservatives, it highlights our concern in providing healthy food for consumers.
How are the ingredients for Maliban Yaha Posha obtained?
The ingredients for Maliban Yaha Posha is obtained locally and by doing so, close to 2,000 local farmers are encouraged to cultivate and produce a substantial yield in order to produce a good product for local consumers.
The manufacturing plant of Maliban Yaha Posha is based in Dambulla. The company implements and carries out numerous CSR activities specifically designed to increase the quality of life of the local farmers and improve the wellbeing of the community in the area which in turn benefits the citizens in the country and Maliban takes a step further in doing so.
Maliban Milk, another product nourishing the country, had its relaunch. Can you share with us about this?
Maliban Milk had its relaunch with a new face of package design and taste quality improvements while maintaining their status as the most trusted by mothers everywhere. Maliban milk powder also contributes to Abayadana CSR initiative. In addition to Full cream milk powder, Maliban has become a favourite in malted food drink, Nonfat and nutritional supplement powder categories as we l l . Furthermore, Maliban Malt is the only malted food drink powder with SLS certification.
Maliban Vitagen is an oral nutritional supplement powder and a formulated meal replacement. This product is designed with low GI for diabetic patients and versatile product with essential micro- nutrients, high protein, calcium, gluten free and arginine for fast recovery.
Lastly, what can you say about this renowned company?
Maliban Biscuits has been awarded the National Quality Award three times, and it is the only local food company to win the ‘ World Class Award at the Global Performance Excellence Awards organized by Asia Pacific Quality Organization.
Maliban will continue to enrich the lives and make improvements to delight customers.