MISSION INNOVATION BY HAYLEYS
The Group’s mission of taking Sri Lankan innovation to the world
The Hayleys Group organised a ‘Mission Innovation’ media tour to present its new generation of sustainable product and process innovations that have been developed at two of its subsidiaries – Hayleys Agriculture and Hayleys Fabric.
While demonstrating the invaluable contribution to Sri Lanka’s export development by these organisations, the tour included an expedition to their state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.
Up to date, Hayleys had invested over Rs. 400 million in R&D in 2021/22 and launched 749 new products.
The company is working on a development pipeline of nearly 160 products in sustainable innovation, value addition and customised offerings based on client requirements.
Its in-market sustainable innovations include:
- Climate Smart Agriculture Solutions
- Eco-friendly gloves
- Sustainable industrial raw-materials
- Energy efficient consumer durable products
- Organic additives
- Erosion control products
- Solar-powered solutions
- ‘Growing media’ products
Hayleys Agriculture is Sri Lanka’s largest exporter of processed fruits and vegetables and comprises over 60 percent market share of the island nation’s fruits and vegetable exports. For taking innovations globally, the company’s value-added products are delivered to more than 50 nations.
Presently, Hayleys Agro offers a vast range of nutritional plant-based products such as tropical fruits and vegetables, coconut-based products, jackfruit-based products, Moringa-based products, Gherkins/pickled cucumber and wellness products.
Moreover, the company is one of the largest suppliers of pickles to global fast-food chains namely Mcdonalds’, Subway, Hungry Jack’s, Burger King and Domino’s Pizza.
Its most recent venture, jackfruit as a substitute for meat in the global vegan market won the Best Corporate Citizen Best Project Sustainability Awards in 2020. This was recognised for successfully starting an innovative, sustainable and novel project of exporting jackfruit to a growing vegan market by establishing a sustainable supply chain based on a farmer out-grower network and finding demand in the international market for the value-added produce.
Other key export innovation awards for Hayley Agriculture in 2021/22 include the National Business Excellence Award comprising golds for Processed Fruits and Vegetables – Large Category and Excellence in Global Reach & Manufacturing – Non-Traditional Sector; bronze award for Overall Performance and merit on Excellence in Environment Sustainability.
Raw materials are sourced from the company’s out-grower network, which consists of over 12,500 farmers and Gherkins, one of its major productions, are sourced from out-growers across the North Eastern and North Central provinces.
Statistically, the company encompasses 16 Agriculture Extension Officers with 215 Farmer and Out-grower Training Programmes over the past year.
As a pioneer and leader in Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector, Hayleys Agriculture has taken proactive measures to support the sustainability and longevity of the country’s agriculture sector and those that work within it.
Argo also leverages smart precision agriculture capabilities to increase the efficiency of chemical and fertiliser applications while continuing to drive Climate Smart Agriculture solutions including drip irrigation systems and drought-resistant planting material thereby propagating sustainable agriculture practices.
Hayleys Fabric is Sri Lanka’s first fabric manufacturer to launch its brand, INNO. Almost 75 percent of its Tier-1 customer portfolio consists of global brands namely Victoria’s Secret, NIKE, Calvin Klein, Decathlon, Intimissimi and Asics
The company has invested over Rs. 6 million in nine acres of wetland to preserve biodiversity. Thus kick-started a fabric-dyeing process using natural dyes such as Warna by Mahogany – natural dyes. This is an innovation to convert waste as by-products of local furniture to fashion with mahogany-based natural dyes.
Mahogany Hybrid on Polyester Fabric was listed among the Top 10 global innovations at the ISPO Textrends Awards Spring/Summer 2024.
Best Corporate Citizen Best Project Sustainability Awards was bestowed for the company’s eco-friendly method of fabric dyeing using natural dye extracted from mahogany bark.
Moreover, Hayleys Fabric manufactures yarns with more than eight million recycled PET bottles and launched the ‘Trace the Grace’ mobile app to foster consumer awareness.
Key awards the company achieved for 2021/22 include the Green Productivity Award 2022; International Quality Awards 2022; Best Textile Manufacturer in Sri Lanka 2022; Most Sustainable Textile Manufacturer in Sri Lanka 2022; United Nations Global Compact SDG Pioneer 2021 for Responsible Production; National Cleaner Production Awards; Asia Sustainability Reporting Award 2020 – Asia’s Best Integrated Report (Design); International ARC Awards – Emerald Anniversary (35th Academy Awards of Annual Reports 2021); CA Sri Lanka Annual Report Awards 2021; and SAARC Anniversary Award 2020 – Integrated Reporting and Corporate Governance Disclosures.
