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Ceylon Biscuits founder passes away
The founder and President of Ceylon Biscuits Limited (CBL) Group, Deshamanya Mineka Wickramasingha has passed away at the age of 87.
After almost 48 years at the helm of the organisation he founded in 1968, Mineka P. Wickramasinghe has retired from the position of Chairman of the Ceylon Biscuits (CBL) group in 2015.
Ramya Wickramasingha, who was CBL’s Deputy Chairman was later appointed as Chairman of the CBL Group. However, Mineka P. Wickramasingha had continued to mentor the group in his new role as President Emeritus.
The company started operations when Wickramasinghe gave a proposal to the Education Ministry to provide a high protein biscuit to schoolchildren under the CARE programme.
The biscuit was developed using bread flour, soybean oil and milk powder by the founder using available raw materials, which was limited at the time. Wickramasinghe had to face all sorts of challenges on the way from government restriction to imported biscuits coming into the local market with the opening of the economy in in late 1970s.
Having become the market leader by capturing more than a 50 percent share of the local biscuit market, Wickramasinghe was one of the first to venture into India.
The group enjoys market leadership in biscuits, chocolates, textured soy, cereals, cakes and organic fruits and coconuts under the brand names Munchee, Ritzbury, Lankasoy, Samaposha, Tiara and Cecil.
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