Cargills puts country first or else there may be a terrible price to pay: Ranjith Page – BY SANATH NAYAKKARE

We, at Cargills (Ceylon) PLC. acknowledge the fact that we need to put the country first or else we may have to pay a terrible price for not putting the whole socio-economic picture into perspective, Ranjith Page, deputy chairman/CEO of Cargills Ceylon PLC told The Island Financial Review (IFR) recently.

“Despite changing economic and business challenges, we must always listen to our pragmatist corporate ideal that Cargills is a people’s business which not only takes care of shareholder interests but never loses its focus on its responsibility for the public good. Cargills is for the benefit of the country as much as it is for the company. The long and short of it is that you can’t have a business running in full swing without its employees believing in what they are doing. And when employees have that belief in them, the customers will naturally feel it and will benefit from it. If we don’t put the country and people first, there won’t be any space for Cargills to operate and thrive,” Page said speaking to the IFR on the sidelines of the Cargills Chairman’s Awards held at the BMICH last week.

“Cargills Ceylon PLC’s shareholders are not as wealthy as you may think because they don’t do everything possible to maximise their profit. We want to have our business’ social impact on the people in terms of providing them with quality products and service while helping them to reduce their cost of living,” he said.

Talking about dairy and farming communities in the rural areas, Page said Cargills has always been there to serve those hard working people the society at large may not spare enough thoughts about.

At the chairman’s awards gala night, a number of star performers who have served Cargills for 25 years or more were felicitated in fitting style.