Neochem International (Pvt) Limited, one of Sri Lanka’s innovative solution providers for chemical products, has been appointed as the Sole Agent for MANE, a French company known to be one of the most prominent manufacturers of flavours and fragrances in the world.
The affiliation between Neochem and MANE goes back a few years as the two companies have worked closely since 2012. During this time, the French giant has played an important role in boosting Neochem’s presence in the Sri Lankan market by working together on innovative solutions, which Neochem has successfully marketed to local manufacturers across different industries. With the appointment as Sole Agent, Neochem will get the complete authority to promote all MANE products in Sri Lanka. The partnership gives the company the opportunity to provide innovative solutions, world-class R&D and customer service of international standards to all local manufacturers. Neochem’s R&D facility in Sri Lanka will continue to work closely with the state-of-the-art R&D facilities of MANE. Neochem employees have received advanced training at MANE’s R&D centers andthey areable to attend to customer needs in Sri Lanka supporting new product developments.
At this year's Fragrance Foundation Awards, which celebrates the global fragrance industry and its outstanding creative achievements in the world of perfumery, two MANE creations were rewarded. "Si" by Giorgio Armani won the "Fragrance of the Year" Award, in the "Women’s Prestige" category while "Modern Man” by Banana Republic won the "Fragrance of the Year" Award in the “Men’s Popular” category.
Expressing his views on being appointed the Sole Agent for such a prestigious global giant, Chathura Piyasekara, Managing Director of Neochem International stated, “We are proud that a global leader in flavours and fragrances, who we have worked closely with during our 6 years of existence, has selected us to be their Sole Agent in Sri Lanka. It is indeed a vote of confidence by MANE in our abilities in this market and underlines our high standards of quality, R&D expertise and service excellence. This partnership will undoubtedly take our innovative solutions to a whole new level, which means that local manufacturers will reap the benefits in the months and years to come.”
Neochem, which commenced operations in 2009 as a technical solution provider for the cosmetics and detergent industry, currently consists of four business units –cosmetics and detergent raw material, food additives, food flavours and fragrances - providing products to local manufacturing clients. Having commenced with a team of just two individuals in 2009, today Neochem has a staff of fifteen individuals and provides solutions to some of the leading FMCG companies in Sri Lanka. The company’s flavours are used to manufacture a wide variety of items such as dairy, bakery goods, snacks, savoury products, confectionery, beverages, tea, alcohol and pharmaceuticals while their fragrances are used for producing numerous items in beauty care, home care, car care and fabric care.
Elaborating further about the company’s operations, Piyasekara added, “One of the key strengths of the company is our in-depth market intelligence capabilities that is on par with and at times even exceeds some of the leading international market research agencies operating here. Thanks mainly to the backing of MANE, our technology, R&D and market intelligence are very advanced. In fact, we are able to pro-actively manufacture product samples based on our research analysis and present it to our clients. Such efforts have been very well received by them and they have been able to launch successful products based on our recommendations. To our clients, we are more than a supplier. We are actually an extension of their R&D facility for most of their innovative products.”
Neochem employs several industrial chemistry and food science graduates from Sri Lankan universities in their technical sales team as well as their R&D team. The company provides them extensive trainingand an excellent work environment in order to mold them into highly-professional individuals ready to meet the demands of a competitive industry.
Based in France, MANE started operations in 1871 and is today known to be one of the top 5 flavour and fragrance manufacturers in the world. MANE employs 4,750 people working in 25 manufacturing sites and 42 R&D centres in 32 countries across the globe.Their South East Asian headquarters is in Indonesia and the closest Manufacturing plant and R&D center is based in India. The company's flavours division creates flavours for everyday products such as beverages, biscuits, confectionery, dairy products, savoury food and pharmaceuticals while the perfumery division creates some of the world's greatest perfumes for hygiene and bodycare products such as shower gels, shampoos, deodorants, creams and toothpastes. In addition, MANE creates fragrances for the home - from household products to interior perfumes. To develop these flavours and fragrances, the company has deployed the world’s most advanced technical, scientific and creative means at all its global locations. The company has a host of international certifications including ISO 9000 and 14000 certifications and was the first fragrances & flavours company in the world to sign the United Nations Global Compact.
