Sri Lanka Entrepreneur of the Year Awards:

Applications available from today

The Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year Awards will be launched by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) today 20 for the 15th year.

This annual award scheme is designed to distinguish, reward and motivate Sri Lanka’s entrepreneurs to reach the mantle of achievement while contributing towards the national economy. The event is organized by FCCISL in association with its 56 member chambers.

The awards ceremony was primarily launched based on a concept of former FCCISL President Patrick Amerasinghe. The contestant enterprises have been grouped into four categories; Small for investments greater than Rs one up to two million and Medium for investments of more than Rs two million up to 20 million, Large for investments between Rs 20-50 million and the Extra Large category for investments of over Rs 50 million. The appropriate category of the enterprise will be determined by taking into account the total assets as at the last financial year.

There are also two special award categories, the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and the Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

FCCISL member chambers and other institutions including banks have actively promoted the event in all the regions including the North and the East. FCCISL has been successful in attracting all business sectors - agriculture, services, industry and trading encompassing all 25 districts in the nine provinces.

The application process covers an all round evaluation by capturing entrepreneurial qualities including vision, mission, innovative strategies and business success in terms of financial performance, growth, future plans and response to social, environmental and statutory commitments as an entrepreneur.

Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year is staged at two levels, provincial and national. Provincial awards will comprise nine Gold awards for the nine provinces, 36 Silver awards comprising four awards each for the nine provinces in the Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large categories. There will be two Bronze awards each in the four categories and therefore a total of 72, with a total number of 117 provincial awards. Of the national awards, there will be an overall Platinum award winner followed by four Gold awards, eight silver awards and twelve Bronze awards with a total of 25 awards. RN Construction (Pvt) Ltd Chairman Ruwan Edirisinghe was last year’s Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year.

Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 application forms will be available from today at the FCCISL Secretariat at No. 53, Vauxhall Lane, Colombo 2 and regional / district member chambers of FCCISL located island-wide. They can be downloaded from www.entrepreneur.fccisl.lk website as well.