Mane Kancor received the prestigious opportunity of being one of the four finalists at the Outstanding Corporate Innovator (OCI) Awards for the year 2021, organized by the Product Development & Management Association (PDMA).

The award evaluation was a rigorous process, and two OCI Committee members conducted virtual site visits to each finalist, which involved a thorough assessment of their innovation processes and results to determine the winners.

The assessors had sighted that Mane Kancor has a "bottoms-up" approach. They added that the company has a strong and open innovation ethos, a learning culture and a good documentation process for innovative practices. They suggested that the company has shown "Embedded innovation" with a grass-root level approach in regions where it operates. The auditors have praised the collaborative innovation culture demonstrated by Mane Kancor with its customers and suppliers.

Another aspect liked by the auditors was sustainability as an innovation driver: As Mane Kancor has become one of the world's largest producers of mint flavors and ingredients by setting sustainability standards in the industry. Auditors said that Mane Kancor team gave them the impression of a very advanced and ambitious corporate Innovator. The auditors were convinced that the transformation of an entire company from a non-tech legacy business to a science-driven innovation leader resulted from mastering this transition almost in a text-book like a manner.

On this occasion, Geemon Korah, chief executive officer and director of Mane Kancor, said, "It was a great experience to get our innovation processes reviewed at global level. Our team had significant learning and becoming a finalist itself is a great achievement for us. We were selected from the final 25 applications shortlisted out of all global applicants. The comments we received from the auditors are quite encouraging and we are very proud to be the sole company to represent the food ingredient industry at the Global level."

The Product Development & Management Association (PDMA) is a global association of innovation management professionals. The OCI Award is the only global innovation award recognizing sustained and quantifiable business results from new products and services. This year marks the 34th year in which PDMA has given this prestigious award. The past winners represent a group of global corporations widely-recognized and respected for their innovation success. Mane Kancor was one of the four finalists shortlisted for the award.