By Michelle Alles
Ramani Ponnambalam is a unique lady and has proved this fact many times over by rising to the apex of her business career. She has served on the Board of McLarens Holdings Ltd and GAC Shipping Ltd. She is currently a Director of McBolon Polymer (Pvt) Ltd, Pidilite Lanka (Private) Limited and the Managing Director of Mcbertan (Pvt) Ltd. She is actively involved in Product Development, and Finance Planning.
She was appointed to the Board of Directors and also Audit Committees of Kingsbury PLC and Amaya Leisure PLC (Hayleys Group) and currently serves as a Director of Alliance Finance Co. PLC. She and her husband, Bri Ponnambalam are avid fans of Classic cars and she is also the President of the Classic Car Club of Ceylon and the only lady in Sri Lanka to achieve this rare honour. A former student of Bishops College, she holds a Diploma in Directorship – Singapore Management University. This eminently successful career-woman still makes the time to reach out to the less fortunate. Esteem Magazine stopped by to chat with this intriguing and illustrious personage.
Tell us more about yourself and your career.
At school, I was the Senior College Prefect, House Captain, the English Literary Society President and the Table Tennis Captain. After leaving school, I wanted to do journalism and wrote for the Daily Observer, as it was called at the time. I was also the winner of the Kanthi Wijemanne Memorial Prize for English Writing Skills. However, this didn’t last very long as I got involved in pursuing various business with my husband, and my writing career took a backseat. Since then, I’ve been actively involved at the executive level of my present company and it is tri-party partnership between my husband, and myself, along with McLarens Holdings and Alliance Finance Co. PLC. We started this manufacturing company 20 years ago. Macbertan is the Manufacturer of McFoil Roof Insulation, McFoam Packaging Material, PBL / ABL Tubes and Air Bubble packaging Sheets. Macbertan has an island wide dealer network of around 5,600 dealers to distribute our products. The factory is in Ja-ela and we have around 300 employees. We have grown into other Manufacturing Operations as well which are mainly into building products.
Macbertan is also the local partner of a Jt Venture with Pidilite Singapore & Pidilite Dubai for Manufacturing of “Fevicol” adhesives in Sri Lanka.
We have a loyal team and are very keen on quality as well as service. Macbertan was the first Plastic processing Company in Sri Lanka to be certified by Sri Lanka Standards Institution for EMS 14001: 2004 (Environment) and OHSAS 18001:2007 (Safety) and is also certified for ISO 9001:2008 quality Standards. We have also won many corporate awards, such as the Overall Best Performing Company – McLarens Group 2015/2016, Ceylon National Chamber of Industry (CNCI) Achiever Award – National Gold Award 2015, Sri Lanka Chamber of Small & Medium Industries (SLCSMI) – Industrial Excellence Award 2014 – Platinum Award, CIOB Green Mark Gold Certificate – 2015 and the National Business Excellence Merit Award 2015. We also have been very strong on environment protection and are very much into CSR activities. The areas I’m in are quite diversified; other than this, I also serve as a Non-Executive Director & Audit Committee Member for Kingsbury PLC and Amaya Leisure PLC (Hayleys Group), a Board Member of the Women’s Chamber of Industry & Commerce and very committed to seeing today’s women assuming positions of leadership in the business world, a Non-Executive Director – Alliance Finance Co. PLC and Director at Pidilite Lanka (Pvt) Limited, a BOI approved Manufacturing Company. I’m also committed to Church activities and was Founder Committee Member and continue to serve in the Committees of two Homes for Disadvantaged Children based in Wattala.
Talk about your passion for cars
I became the President of the Classic Car Club of Ceylon this year and I am honoured by this office. My husband and I are passionate collectors and restorers of heritage cars, and we organise many events for the Club. This is the 25th year of the club and I’ve served on the committee since its inception. I recently travelled to Paris to participate in the 50th General Assembly of the Governing Body of Classic Cars in France known as FIVA.
During this visit I was happy to also attend the first Ever Vintage & Classic Car display at UNESCO Grounds in PARIS which was in honour of the FIVA 50th year Celebrations
As far as I am aware there is only one other lady President among the world wide Member Clubs of FIVA and in this male-dominated assembly, I’m privileged to be there.
When you were 20, where did you see yourself in a decade?
I thought I was going to be a journalist or an author, but life had different plans for me! I still love reading good books and my sports…I try to keep fit as much as I can by walking and playing badminton. It’s not always easy to balance my busy schedule with outdoor activities, but I am very focused on keeping myself healthy.
You’ve been in top-level management for many years. How do you stay motivated?
I pursue perfection; I set goals for myself and work towards achieving them. The need to have anything at a very high level is what motivates me. The importance of teamwork has been stressed over the years countless times and I’m thankful for my loyal and excellent team.
What are the non-negotiable parts of your organizational culture?
I would never compromise on quality to try to reduce prices to compete with other market participants.
After many years as a business leader, what choices will you be making for your own future in the next decade?
I’m currently seeing a new manufacturing operation off the ground next year. I’m very satisfied with what I’ve achieved so far and would like to look at training the next generation of leaders.