"Doing business is about thinking of ways you can serve the people, but you can only do so by knowing their specific situation and needs."

Derrick Tan, founder and CEO of Magna Prime Chemical Technologies, Inc., continues to teach this principle to all his people, inculcating a culture and mindset of servitude throughout the whole company.

"We believe that leadership is servanthood," Tan would always say.

Magna Prime was founded on the idea that need is the mother of all inventions. Despite being a complete construction chemical solutions provider with a broad range of products to offer, Magna Prime still stands out because of its in-depth data-gathering methods to evaluate the specific needs of the people.

Leading the construction chemical industry

Tan's service-centric mentality can also be seen on full display in Magna Prime's infotainment marketing approach, especially the Magtanong Para Sigurado campaign of Buildrite Construction Chemicals, which is supplemented by an online technical and customer service team.

Similarly, Sinclair Paints is about to launch the Sinclair Academy, where Tan will teach painters about the basic chemistry of different paints and the established principles of painting walls.

Magna Prime innovates to meet the needs of industry stakeholders, taking into account real-life situations happening in the country's construction industry. Coupled with the drive to innovate and understand what people really need, it is able to formulate and provide innovative products.

"It took us several years of research, brainstorming, product testing, market insights, collaboration with multinational innovator companies, training with international construction chemical experts, investing in equipment and facilities, and many days of fun and learning," Tan said, explaining Magna Prime's meteoric rise.

With all of this, it's no surprise that Magna Prime Chemical Technologies, Inc. has grown to become one of the country's leading manufacturers and distributors of high-quality construction chemicals. In fact, it is currently leading the march towards the standardization of the country's construction chemical industry, in line with its vision of bringing about a future where the Philippines can achieve world-class standard construction chemical products and methodologies.

Tradition to fast-track industry standardization

At the recently concluded PhilConstruct Expo 2022, Magna Prime started a new company tradition to fast-track industry standardization, challenging the norms and its competitors to ensure continuous progress in the construction chemical industry.

After the event, Magna Prime plans to launch new innovative products every year during the annual PhilConstruct Expo.

During PhilConstruct 2022, one of Magna Prime's brands, Buildrite Construction Chemicals, launched two new innovative products that are firsts in the Philippines —Readycrete: Ready-Mix Concrete in a Bag and SmartBond Flex: The First Flexible Tile Adhesive.

Readycrete is the Philippines' first and only ready-mix concrete in a bag. With the lack of accessibility to high-quality ready-mix concrete, small to medium projects are forced to mix their own concrete on-site, which is the primary cause of concrete problems such as segregation, honeycombs, spalling, cracking, and insufficient compressive strength. Many small projects also don't meet the minimum required quantity of RMC providers, which forces them to do jobsite mixing. To address this particular need, Buildrite launched Readycrete: Ready-Mix Concrete in a Bag. With this, all projects can now order ready-mix concrete regardless of the quantity needed or the location of the jobsite, providing a cost-efficient solution for construction projects.

For tile installation, SmartBond Flex is the first flexible tile adhesive in the Philippines. The flexibility of this tile adhesive addresses a very specific problem that causes tiles to pop out—the movement of tiles and substrate. Aside from excellent adhesion, tiling also requires a tile adhesive with excellent flexibility to withstand the movements of tiles and substrate during thermal expansion and contraction, including the structural movements caused by traffic and external factors. SmartBond Flex tile adhesive acts as a movement absorber or dampener, which then prevents the tile adhesive from cracking or losing adhesion.

Tan spearheaded the development of SmartBond Tile Adhesive, winning the Second Best Invention – Utility Model Category Award at the annual National Inventors Week 2019. He was also inducted as an official Filipino inventor by the Filipino Inventors Society, Inc.

Exciting future guided by core principles

There remains a huge learning curve in tile installation and concrete solutions, even after the unveiling of SmartBond Flex and Readycrete. Magna Prime recognizes this and is now on a mission to further educate the public about the best practices and quality standards in such areas.

With the addition of new products to Magna Prime's product portfolio, the company will surely continue to develop more innovative solutions and educate people about cost-efficient, reliable, and sustainable construction chemical products and methodologies.

When asked how he managed to grow the business in such a short span of time, Tan said, "The company wasn't about selling construction chemicals. It's about understanding and serving people. When I realized that taking care of people is the essence of this company, everything became easier to manage."