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CIC Seeds honours farm employees at Rewards Nite

CIC Seeds recognized and rewarded employees who have contributed significantly in recent years towards its growth at a Rewards Nite held at their Agri Holiday Resort in Hingurakgoda.

The most outstanding employees in seed paddy production, seed paddy storage, irrigation, laboratory services, and highland crops were selected and rewarded for their excellent contributions. In addition the Company also granted seven employees with foreign scholarships which will allow them to be trained overseas.

Two employees Chandana Jayaratne and Ganga Kumarihamy who have served the organization for over 15 years were also honoured by the management.

CIC Seeds manages three large seed farms in Hingurakgoda, Dambulla and Talawa which together contributes about 1/3 of the country’s Seed Paddy requirement. In addition the three farms are into the production of fruits, vegetables and livestock products like eggs and curd which are marketed in Fresheez outlets and in other leading supermarkets in the island.

With the SriLankan Airlines Platinum American Express Card:

Your companion flies for free

In celebration of the first anniversary of the SriLankan Airlines Platinum American Express Card, Cardmembers are invited to experience a host of unique benefits and star class services exclusively designed for the platinum membership. From accelerated FlySmiLes miles to exclusive travel privileges, the SriLankan Airlines Platinum American Express Card holds steadfast to its title as the premium travel card.

With the promise of enhancing your travel experience, Nations Trust Bank together with SriLankan Airlines launched the “Your companion flies for free” - a unique promotion for Cardmembers who seek tangible value when travelling. Nations Trust Bank PLC Director/CEO Saliya Rajakaruna said “this promotion gives our Platinum Cardmembers the opportunity to share an unparalleled travel experience with someone special”.

With an accumulated spend of Rs 450,000 between February 1 and April 30 on everyday purchases, a Platinum Cardmember will receive a complimentary companion ticket to Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Male, Mumbai or New Delhi with the purchase of the primary air ticket. Due to the value of this offer, each primary Platinum Cardmember is entitled to one voucher which can be gifted to his/her companion. The first 800 Cardmembers who qualify on or before April 30 and book their travel by May 31 are entitled to this offer.

Travel must be completed by December 31. SriLankan Airlines’ Head of Corporate Affairs and Planning, Manique Gunesekera said “The SriLankan Airlines Platinum American Express Card has proven to be an extraordinary success among travellers.

This amazing ‘Your Companion Flies for Free’ promotion is our way of rewarding our many loyal customers for their patronage of SriLankan Airlines and American Express.”

Platinum Card membership has grown steadily, attracting the premium travel segment. With FlySmiLes Silver membership privileges such as 12kg additional baggage allowance, priority check-in and exclusive Palm Strip lounge access, it is no surprise as to why the SriLankan Airlines Platinum American Express Card is much sought after. For every Rs 100 spent, earn 1 FlySmiLes mile whilst the accelerated 2X and 3X FlySmiLes programs on the Card, helps you to earn FlySmiLes miles that much faster.

Seylan celebrates Independence Anniversary

With ‘Seylan Ran Salasum’ facility:

The Seylan Bank celebrates the 62nd anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence with the launch of a special ‘Seylan Ran Salasum’ facility for its thousands of customers across the country.

Under this unique scheme, both personal and corporate customers will now be able to secure speedy financial assistance from the Seylan Bank with the gold they possess as surety. Adding to the convenience is the absence of the usual and hassle-some conventional documentation.

Available at Seylan’s 93 branches and 24 extension offices across the country, the ‘Seylan Ran Salasum facility is expected to dramatically expand the Bank’s customer base.

Open to local jewellers and financial institutions who have gold stocks for trading, it also encourages high net worth individuals to borrow against their gold assets at attractive low interest rates.

Seylan Bank Chairman Eastman Narangoda said that with this new customer-centric facility, Seylan Bank is happy to offer flexible financial assistance to thousands of customers across the country. “Sri Lankans have an age old habit of accumulating their wealth in the form of gold. This has in fact been a long preferred option over the years.

The security we provide for gold deposits and the very reasonable rates of interest we offer, will no doubt propel this scheme to great success. Furthermore, not only does this scheme enrich the range of products and services we offer our customers, but also enables us to substantially grow our lending portfolio”. “Our strong restructuring and solid financial performance last year enabled us to re-gain the confidence of the people of this country and thereby strengthen our position as one of the leading players in the Sri Lankan banking industry.

The Seylan Bank has always been of service to the nation both in good times and in bad, and will continue to be a leading player in the lives of Sri Lankans across all geographical boundaries”, Narangoda said.

AAA, Hertz unveil exciting offers

Automobile Association of Ceylon the premier motoring club in the country has teamed up with Hertz, the world’s largest general use car rental brand, operating from approximately 8,000 locations in 145 countries worldwide.

All members will benefit special discounts on their car rentals, courtesy of Hertz Sri Lanka and its local partner, Andrew - The Car Rental Company (Pvt) Ltd.

“As the world’s largest general use car rental company, Hertz is glad to partner with Auto Mobile Association of Ceylon to offer its members and potential customers the benefits of world-class car rentals, cost benefits through the special discount scheme on car rentals. It is our belief that this partnership will unleash a multitude of benefits for both parties,” Chairman Andrew the Car Rental Company Hertz international licensee in Sri Lanka Mahen Kariyawasam said.

Commenting on the new offer, President of the Automobile Association Dhammika Attygalle said that this was the first time that they offered a corporate membership and hence the Association looked forward to increasing the membership base through this partnership.

The Automobile Association members are also entitled to special offers worldwide through the AAA’s Show Your Card and Save program which has 145,000 merchants.

The AA is also affiliated to the FIA (Federation Internationale de I’Automobile which is the world’s largest motoring body and offers reciprocal facilities to its members in 123 countries.

Motorola launches mobile phones

Motorola launched three new, innovative, stylish mobile phones with unique experiences in Sri Lanka. Ranging from to mid to high level mobile phones, these include the MOTO A45 Eco for young users interested in social networking, the MOTO W7 Active Edition with gesture controls is a 3G mobile phone packed with motion-controlled games and a built-in step pedometer; and the multimedia experience in the MOTO ZN300, a sleek slider with 3.1 megapixel camera, makes for a great imaging and sharing experience.

“Consumers today look for distinctive features that allow connectivity-on-the-go in a sleek and stylish form factor. A differentiated or extraordinary experience or a cool quotient to enthrall the consumer. We are delighted to offer all this and much more in our new range of mobile phones,” said Motorola Mobile Devices Head-Sales & Operations, Emerging Markets, Rajan Chawla.

MOTO A45 Eco - A slider QWERTY handset keeps young users connected with their social networks.

Cutting edge technology combined with the slider form factor, QWERTY keypad and big display make the MOTO A45 Eco a full-feature communication tool. It permits easy configuration of email accounts for different providers and shows SMS messages in conversation format. The handset comes with a 2 MP camera with digital zoom for photo and video capture and enables the user to post images on social networks and blogs with just a single touch of a button.

The MOTO A45 Eco has a full set of entertainment features, including MP3 player with 3.5 mm connector slot, FM radio with RDS and sound recorder, as well applications such as MotoID (which recognizes the music playing around the cell phone), Last.fm, and Google Maps. The handset also comes preloaded with games. The MOTO A45 is expandable up to 4 GB optional external memory.

MOTO W7 Active Edition 3G mobile phone packed with gesture controls, motion-controlled games and a built-in step pedometer.

Shake up your everyday phone experience by controlling MOTO W7 using simple hand gestures, taps and flicks. Designed for those who want a “moving” phone experience, MOTO W7 is equipped with an accelerometer that senses your body’s motions, orientation and hand gestures to perform tasks. Flip the phone over to silence the ringer of an incoming call, snooze the alarm clock or pause the music. Shake twice to instantly launch your favorite application, such as the music player. When showing off your photo albums or music libraries, flick the phone right or left to move between songs and images.

MOTO W7 is also designed to move with you. A built-in step pedometer counts and records your daily walks and runs to make every step count. Work out on your own terms with a Personal Trainer application that creates a personal profile and helps you to set goals, create workout profiles and review summary reports.

e-Chanelling services now available on Airtel

Bharti Airtel Lanka, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, Asia’s leading integrated telecom services provider has tied up with eChanneling PLC.

The service enables all Airtel customers to access online medical channelling services through their Airtel mobile.

With e-Channelling services uniformly available to both Postpaid and Prepaid customers, simply dialing 225 from an Airtel mobile provides direct access to channelling medical specialists.

While charges for appointments made by Postpaid customers will be added to their monthly bill, for all Prepaid customers who make an appointment, charges will be deducted from their talktime.

The service has also been made available to all corporate customers as well. On the occasion of the launch, CEO, Bharti Airtel Lanka, Amali Nanayakkara stated, “We are delighted to introduce e-Channelling services on Airtel. e-Channelling provides all Airtel customers ample convenience while enhancing efficiency in channelling medical specialists of their choice at the touch of a button.

With our intent to constantly add value to the lives of the customers we serve, e-Channelling will be one of the many services that we will rollout, providing all our customers access to more and more innovative services in the future.”

CEO e-Channelling PLC Asanga Karunaratna, stated that “e-Channelling Services on Airtel will avail customers of vital healthcare information and facilitate quick and efficient access to medical attention. “We are therefore extremely pleased to partner Airtel, Sri Lanka’s fastest growing wireless service provider and be part of providing innovative lifestyle solutions to its customers,” he said.

Traveller Global 20 years

‘Traveller Global celebrated their 20th anniversary this year with another street promo on January 16, 2010 at their Colpetty office premises. They launched two of their unique selling tools to enhance their service standards towards their customers.

The first being - 24hrs/7days Call Centre which now gives their customers the after hours contactability which not many travel agents in the travel industry posses or practice.

The second is the Corporate Loyalty Card which offers greater benefits to their corporate customers.