Hambantota Best Entrepreneur Awards

The Best Entrepreneur of the Year Awards ceremony for entrepreneurs of the Hambantota district organized by the Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) will be held on October 17 at the Hambantota Singapore Hall under the patronage of Ports, Aviation and Irrigation and Water Management Minister Chamal Rajapaksa as the Chief Guest. Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman, Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama will be the Guest of Honour.

The 16th Annual General Meeting of the Chamber will take place on the same day. The annual awards ceremony is being held for the eighth successive year. HDCC has designed the event to encourage the local business community to practise sound and modern business methods as well as to achieve high levels of entrepreneurship.

The event is also seen as a driving factor for the local business community to adopt proper and sound ethics in their business practices as well as creating a pathway for them to venture into new areas of business. Twenty awards will be presented at this year's event.

At this year's event HDCC will honour three distinguished people for outstanding services to develop the Hambantota district. Minister, Chamal Rajapaksa, the Hambantota District Secretary, R. M. D. B. Meegasmulla and the Director General of HDCC, Azmi Thassim, will receive the awards.

HDCC was incorporated as a fully fledged Chamber in 1993 and was the first of its kind in Sri Lanka to represent the needs of the private sector at a district level.

The Chamber has contributed enormously to the development of the business environment as well as to build overall entrepreneur capacity in the Hambantota district. The Chamber works in partnership with many Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations at national and international level.

In June 2009 HDCC was honoured at the sixth World Chamber Forum in Malaysia by being presented with the best partnership award in recognition of the partnership they have developed with the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Manchester Solutions in the United Kingdom.

HDCC works with young people through its Youth Business Program which is part of Youth Business Sri Lanka, an accredited program of the Prince's Youth Business International (PYBI).

PYBI is one of the Prince of Wales' group of charities in the UK, providing young people in thirty-eight countries with loan and business mentoring facilities to help them start and develop their own businesses.

HDCC also operates a Career Service Centre in the Hambantota district, which has helped and counselled thousands of young people by developing their skills and securing jobs.