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AMW goes to Jaffna

Associated Motorways (AMW) who has partnered with HNB Leasing, to give a special seasonal offer enabling customers the easiest and most affordable way to own a Suzuki Maruti, recently visited Jaffna with this special offer for residents in the North, who wish to capitalize on the Suzuki Maruti promotion. From left: Wickum Pradeep and the Nawanathan family, Shihan Herath, Ashantha Atukorale and Viraj Perera.

Star points unveils exciting offers

Star Points has unveiled an array of exciting offers for Dialog Mobile customers as part of its special year end campaign to celebrate the festive season.

The special promotion enables Star Points customers to enjoy over 100 different offers from over 100 Star Points partner merchants island wide, before their points expire on December 31. These offers include valuable gifts and exclusive discount offers from leading merchant in the country. Six million Dialog Mobile customers are eligible for these exclusive offers, which could be availed when redeeming points at the partner outlets.

In addition Star Points is offering its customers the opportunity to win prizes worth over one million from over 100 merchants, adding to the excitement of Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Dialog Television and Fixed Telephony and Data Services Chief Operating Officer Suren Goonewardene said, “We’re delighted to add to the joy and festivities of our six million strong customer base with our year end redemption campaign, offering a range of unprecedented benefits from a multitude of merchants. Star Points complements our desire to offer our customers a rewarding service experience in our endeavour to enrich lives, and the continued success and experience of our program this year serves as an effective platform for 2010.”

Customers could obtain more information about Star Points offers and partner merchants by dialling # 141# on their Dialog Mobile or by sending an SMS with their favourite Merchant’s name to 141.

Star Points is Sri Lanka’s largest rewards network with over 400 partner merchants and more than 1,000 partner outlets islandwide. All Dialog Mobile customers can earn Star Points from the merchant-partner network, which encompasses multiple retail sectors. Star Points are redeemable at a constant face value of Re. 1 per point across the entire network.

Abans Christmas offers and discounts

Abans have introduced special Christmas offers and discounts to make your Christmas even brighter, a media release from the company said. You can now buy the world’s best brands of electronic home appliances, cookware, tableware, glassware, bakeware, computers, motorcycles and more at prices that will amaze you.

You also have the option of making your purchases on interest free instalment terms, so you can buy more gifts for many more friends and loved ones this Christmas. without worrying about your budget.

There are amazing discounts on the world’s best brands with full guarantee and instalment terms at zero percent interest.

There’s always something at Abans to make children happy. Bring your children along to Abans Christmas Toy Corner where they can select their Christmas Gifts from a range of innovative and creative toys. Your children will love guessing Santa’s weight. It could win them a valuable prize.

Abans have also organized a grand Christmas Fiesta of fun and frolic for the festive season. There will be a Microwave Cooking Competition with grand prizes to the winners and finalists and Carol Singing at selected elite showrooms with various other activities for housewives, children and the the family.

A full program of Abans Christmas activities will be published in the newspapers. Fibre Optic Wrought Iron Christmas Trees, Candle Stands and other unique crafted ornaments are also available.

Cascading waterfalls in a variety of designs are another lovely gift option, along with a range of Christmas lights and other baubles and beads, the release said.

Diamond Dreams come true this Christmas

Diamond Dreams is all set to make your dream of owning an exquisite piece of diamond jewellery a reality this Christmas, through a unique scheme in partnership with Cargills Food City.

The once in a lifetime opportunity to own a timeless Coronet Solitaire from Diamond Dreams is offered to all Cargills Food City customers. Every Rs. 2,000 spent at Cargills Food City this season earns its customers 1,000 Food City Diamond Points, which could be redeemed against the purchase of any piece of jewellery from the Coronet Solitaire Collection at Diamond Dreams. The offer is valid at selected Cargills Food City outlets.

The Coronet Solitaire is a popular brand. Through the expertise of amalgamation of six diamonds together with an elevated centre piece forming the table for the cluster which is 100 percent visible with no prongs, magically embraces to conceive a luminous solitaire diamond. This state-of-the-art technique portrays an extraordinary brilliance of the fine crafted diamonds and offers the pleasure of a carat sized diamond.

Diamond Dreams Jewellery, Managing Director Ms. Pearl Chandrawansa, with 10 years’ experience in a retailing and wholesaling of diamond jewellery based in the Middle East having worked for Damas and Rosy Blue said, “The Diamond Dreams Solitaire range is designed specifically with the contemporary woman in mind who is a highly individualistic person in her own right. Discerning women will definitely appreciate the tremendous effort that goes into the designing of jewellery inspired by the unique beauty of diamonds,” she said.

Sixth Reggie Candappa Awards:

Establishing new paradigms in creativity

The sixth Reggie Candappa Creative Craft Awards concluded in a swirl of sensational celebration and creative innovation, with every facet of the event carefully honed to reflect and honour the essence of raw creativity, and pay homage to the legendary Reggie Candappa’s dream to develop creative artistry in the local

communications industry.

The event at the Park Street Mews warehouses under the theme “Bohemian Glam”, saw many patrons dressed to reflect the vision and theme of the event and pay tribute to the spirit of Art.

The premier awards ceremony for creativity - be it advertising, art or craft - this year’s Reggie’s sought to differentiate itself and redefine local creative communication by recognizing, rewarding and encouraging new, and in some cases, neglected mediums of creative craft - such as Graphic Design, Book Design, Best Use of Illustration, Online Medium and Best Photography - in an attempt to break creative boundaries and be the catalyst that fosters eccentricity and creativity in the local arena during a time of innovation and transformation in communication the world over.

Seeing a particularly enthusiastic response in the new, contemporary categories, the awards ceremony overall received a keen response of over 400 entries that displayed an outstanding level of talent and skilled craft, with an increase of Gold Awards won this year compared to 2008.

Trevor Kennedy of the TV panel and Photography and Book Design Panel of judges said “There were some extremely good entries this time, especially from those who had followed their own direction and inspiration in the TV category as opposed to just following a brief or other’s instructions. The new categories introduced this year also show definite promise - I think photography in particular will be a strong category next year.”

Johan Latiff of the Print Panel of judges said, “We saw some really fabulous stuff with Logos and Illustrations in the print category”.

A Radio category judge Ranga Dassanayake said, “We did see some exceptional entries in the radio category this year, particularly from the media houses whose production and use of sound effects were top notch.” He said many excellent and creative entries in the radio category this year could not be used as many of them were submitted in the wrong categories, and called upon industry to be more vigilant when submitting entries next year.

Premium payments:

Ceylinco Life ties up with NSB

Ceylinco Life has added the extensive branch network of the National Savings Bank to the company’s premium payment network, expanding it by 126 outlets.

The company’s policyholders can make their premium payments monthly or quarterly at any NSB branch islandwide, in addition to the company’s own network of 180 branches. Payments can be made by cash, the company said.

The new agreement with NSB will bring greater convenience to policyholders by offering them outlets to pay premiums at locations closer to their homes or offices, Ceylinco Life’s Deputy Chairman R. Renganathan said.

Ceylinco Life policyholders also have the option of paying their premium via the user-friendly, secure on-line facility offered by the company’s website, and by standing orders on credit cards or bank accounts. Ceylinco Life owns the largest branch network in the country’s life insurance sector and currently employees a sales force of over 5,000. The company has more than 750,000 lives covered by active policies and ended 2008 with premium income of Rs. 8.2 billion. According to the latest annual report of the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka, Ceylinco Life’s share of the local life insurance market is nearly 35 percent.

Arpico re-launches Jaffna distributor showrooms

Richard Peiris and Company (Arpico) has been delivering trusted excellence to Sri Lankans for over 75 years.

At present Arpico products are being distributed in Jaffna through Woodsons and Popular Motors.

The company re-launched these operations with value added services Thursday. These distributors have undergone extensive renovations and enhancements, to meet the increasing needs of Jaffna residents, and to provide them with higher levels of comfort, quality and value.

Arpico provides a range of products to Jaffna residents, including: water tanks, water pumps, rigifoam, rubber items, CFL bulbs, mattresses, furniture and PVC doors.

The conglomerate’s Plastishells and Flexifoam subsidiaries, which manufacture water tanks and mattresses have been awarded ISO 9001 certification.

With the end of the war, Jaffna residents will enjoy even higher levels of service and product excellence.

Arpico’s re-launching of its Woodsons and Popular Motors distributors’ centres will serve to meet this demand and will give the company a chance to maintain and further extend its leadership position in the area.

Foreign tours for Lankem Robbialac dealers

Lankem Paints Ltd recently rewarded 100 of its Robbialac dealers with two all expenses paid tours to Bangkok and China. Seventy dealers were treated to five days and four nights in Pattaya and Bangkok which also included a full day at the Safari World and Marine Park and a Dinner Cruise on the Chao Phraya Princess Boat

The other 30 dealers spent five days and four nights in China and Bangkok with visits to the Tianan’men Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Olympic Green and Summer Palace. All of them became “Heroes” by climbing the Great Wall (a tradition in China). Lankem Ceylon PLC Director Ruwan Weerasinghe said, “We have 24 distributors islandwide, including the North and the East.

Extending this network are the 2,000 dealers and 160 Pata Shops (Colour Mixing Centres) that operate all over the country. Just as our customers do, our dealers form the backbone of our company.

It is their hard work in promoting Robbialac through all parts of the country that contributed to the Company’s which recorded over 20 per cent growth last year.

Last year too we rewarded around 90 dealers with tours to Bangkok, Malaysia and Dubai thus showing our appreciation and making them feel close-knit members of the extended Lankem Robbialac family”, he said.

PC House automates business operation

PC House, the pioneering subsidiary of PCH Holdings has automated its entire business operation to provide an efficient and systematic solution to the staff as well as to its valued clientele.

The system will allow the PCH group to manage all aspects of the business including managing stock levels of the 30 high end IT brands which comes to 500 or more product models.

Through the restructuring, the company will be able to maintain a comprehensive portfolio of information on each client and manage their present and past transactions, identifying customer needs and behaviour.

The entire company will be plugged into the system and users will be able to communicate between departments requesting for services and updating results.

PC House and its group PCH Holdings Chairman S.H.M. Rishan said, “Businesses worldwide are under increasing pressure from fierce competition, a fast-changing business environment, and more demanding customers.

All of these pressures have encouraged a new interest in analyzing how businesses can operate more flexibly and effectively. We have decided to mechanize our internal systems, as an additional approach towards enhancing corporate agility and efficiency.”

The entire solution was developed with the assistance of PCH Holding’s software solutions arm Greenwich Lanka (Pvt) Ltd (GLPL) that resulted in configuring a totally customized system with continuous observation of the in house work flow.

Total communication between sales officers, managers, inventory controller, logistics, and purchasing officers, accounting and financial officers are managed electronically.

The system assists in monitoring budgeting, budget planning, scheduling, and screen product supplies inventory. Sales personnel, finance team, stores team and the management have access to the system with specialized logins, which allow them to add inventory, and in confirming purchase orders and reserve the product or service according to the demand.

GLPL Director Thariq Sanoon said “This installed automation will facilitate better understanding of our customers and will support better business decision-making in the long run while streamlining our business model.

We have developed customized ERP system interface using high end technologies such as Microsoft. NET, SharePoint integrated services and Java which permit all reporting functions to be carried out via the shared services team at the head office.”

The online documentation system, which is a recent development is linked to generate vouchers to suppliers and allows online credit card transactions as well as bulk payment updates together with a comprehensive group quote generation system. The company plans to install high-end internet connectivity soon with an online business at the head office and linking with the regional branches.

Cinnamon Lakeside upgrades T. B. Jayah Maha Vidyalaya

Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo recently strengthened its long-standing collaboration with T B Jayah Maha Vidyalaya, Colombo 2, by making several essential improvements at the school. These improvements included the completion of an IT Unit with six computers, constructing a wooden stage for the school’s main hall, giving 40 new plastic chairs to the main hall and colour washing the main hall.

The opening ceremony of the IT Unit and the hall was attended by members of the management team of Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo, John Keells Hotels and John Keells Social Responsibility Foundation (JKSRF - the CSR arm of JKH).

“We are glad to have been of assistance to the students of T B Jayah Maha Vidyalaya,” said Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo, General Manager, Neroy Marso. “Our association with the school means a lot to us. We are in the hospitality industry - therefore, our hospitality should also extend to the society and community in which we function.

“This is even more essential when operating in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious society as in Sri Lanka. As such, we consider it vital to respect different cultures and help the less advantaged.”

‘People’s SMS Banking’ launched

People’s Bank, has joined forces with SLT Mobitel, to launch their latest innovation in banking services - the ‘People’s SMS Banking’ service.

The service was launched at an event held at the People’s Bank Head Office, in the presence of the People’s Bank Chief Executive Officer / General Manager P.V. Pathirana, along with Chairperson, SLT Mobitel, Leisha De Silva Chandrasena, SLT Mobitel Chief Executive Officer Suren J. Amarasekera and other Directors and management of the two organisations.

Speaking at the event, P.V. Pathirana said that with the increasing technological development in banking and telecommunications, Sri Lanka is moving towards paperless banking, where forms and letters are fast becoming obsolete. He said that, while providing customers the latest technology in banking, the People’s Bank is looking to provide banking services 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and through this SMS Banking service it provide a more efficient service to their customers.

Chairperson, SLT Mobitel, Leisha De Silva Chandrasena said that in the current times, the public are quite vary of dealing with financial institutions, but as an honest, stable entity which is trusted by the public, People’s Bank was an easy choice for SLT Mobitel to partner in this project.

At the event, the ‘People’s SMS Banking’ service was launched by two customers of People’s Bank, using Mobitel mobile phones.