Siam City Cement (Lanka), also known as INSEE Cement, is a leading, fully integrated cement manufacturer offering a comprehensive portfolio of construction solutions including the highly demanded INSEE Sanstha and INSEE Mahaweli Marine Plus brands in Sri Lanka. Powered by a 600 member team of professionals, the business continues to steer the local building and construction industry towards high-performance, low carbon and future ready constructions, introducing consistently high quality blended cement products and sustainable building materials through the business’ strong investment in innovation and R&D.

Q: How is the formula for corporate respect changing?
A: INSEE Cement operates in one of the most challenging and volatile industries, locally and globally. Being a fully integrated local cement manufacturer, we have always been able to focus on meeting consumer needs despite external challenges, remaining agile and fast adapting to change.

INSEE Cement was able to maintain an uninterrupted supply chain of cement following the pandemic. We also ensured market stabilisation during the cement scarcity experienced last year by operating at maximum production capacity on a 24 hour operation and fulfilling 40 percent of the total market demand.

While bridging gaps in the local cement market, we have also addressed disparities among our communities by investing in their sustainable development efforts. Today, we follow the same formula of fulfilling consumer needs while being prudent in our operations and mindful of the impact on stakeholders.

Nandana Ekanayake
Chairman/CEO

Q: How does a corporate’s commitment to continuous innovation help to garner respect?
A: INSEE Cement is known for fostering a culture of learning and innovation, which has improved the quality and performance of our products and processes. Our diverse investments in innovation, knowledge dissemination and industry collaboration have secured opportunities that can be enjoyed by a larger group of stakeholders.

The INSEE i2i Collaboration Space – a dedicated centre of excellence – develops and promotes new products and solutions to INSEE’s benchmarked quality standards. Despite the challenges faced, we have dutifully continued to steer the local construction industry towards ambitious global standards by bringing innovation to the market.

One of our more recent innovative achievements was the collaboration with multiple stakeholder groups to establish a new SLS 1697 standard specification equivalent to British Standards for Portland Composite Cement – an industry first in Sri Lanka.

Q: Why do you think your business has been ranked in the ‘Most Respected’ list?
A: Loyalty and trust have played a key role in our ranking on the Most Respected 2022 list. We have proven our mettle as a customer centric brand over the past few years – more so in a post-pandemic era – and continue to single-handedly navigate the local construction industry in these unprecedented times.

Additionally, being the only cement product in the country to be 100 percent locally produced, we have been able to contain prices in a highly volatile market, which continues to earn our customers’ trust and loyalty.

This loyalty is reflected by public endorsement as we were voted ‘People’s Housing and Construction Brand of the Year’ for the 11th consecutive time, and the most loved cement brand for the second successive year by LMD.

Q: Does social responsibility continue to be a part of the ‘corporate respect’ equation?
A: Indeed. Social responsibility is fundamental to corporate citizenship and remains deeply embedded in the group wide INSEE Sustainability Ambition 2030, and our greater role in the nation’s recovery from the current crisis.

Our initiatives rest on three pillars – climate and energy; biodiversity and water; and the circular economy – driven by mutually beneficial community and stakeholder engagement, and a strong foundation of occupational health and safety standards.

We have mapped timelines to meet ambitious social and environmental goals – including taking definite action to support the Paris Climate Accords with a 15 percent carbon reduction from our 2020 baseline value, among multiple ambitious initiatives.

In the face of depleting foreign reserves, soaring inflation and supply chain disruptions, INSEE Cement believes Sri Lanka’s economic crisis can be resolved with extensive and swift economic reforms, and is driven to contribute to the sustainable development of the country in the hope of future economic stability.

QUICK-FIRE ROUND

Three recommendations to revive Sri Lanka’s economy
Restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability through policy and structural reforms.
Form and enact progressive guidelines and policies inclusive of empowering anticorruption bodies.
Encourage Sri Lankans to be prudent in their expenditure and nurture a mindset of saving.

Three most admired global business leaders
Warren Buffett
Ratan Tata
Elon Musk

Telephone 7800801  |  Email callcentre-lka@siamcitycement.com  |  Website www.saimcitycement.com/lk