ADVERTORIAL

Another NDB Bank venture:

Medical clinic in Lebanon

NDB Bank sponsored a medical clinic at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Lebanon. The Sri Lankan Association in Lebanon organized the program. The Sri Lankan

Embassy in Lebanon and the Sri Lankan Ambassador M Mahroof supported to make this medical clinic a success.

Over 600 participants who required medical facilities attended the medical clinic. A non-governmental organization in Lebanon, Caritas, provided free medicine and para-medical assistance.

The medical clinic was conducted by two Sri Lankan doctors sponsored by NDB Bank, Jayewardenepura University Family Medicine Department Head Dr A P L de S Seneviratne and Consultant Health Care Management of Sri Lanka, Consultant Family Physician Dr Sarath R Paranavithane, who volunteered to participate in the program.

NDB Bank, New Branch Development and Bancassurance, Remittances Head, Assistant Vice President, Kumar Gunawardana and NDB Bank, Remittances and Bancassurance Manager Terence Jeevanath participated in the occasion.

Russel’s to open Tea Lounge

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

Russel’s Tea will open a Tea Lounge at Elvitigala Mawatha, Colombo, named Russel Tea Lounge and Gallery targeting both local and foreign customers with an investment of Rs six million.

Russel’s Tea Managing Director Russel Perera said that this place will be an educational centre with 30 grades of tea on display with various types of specialty tea and hand made tea.

Varieties of tea beverages will also be served for customer satisfaction. They are experimenting with a lot of recipes for drinks with Tea.

He said that several food items made out of tea will also be served here in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Tea Board which is a unique feature. Russels will launch a professional campaign for the opening of this Tea Lounge with the co-operation of the Tea Board. Russels will also launch a magazine which will educate the readers on the milestones of tea history and other tea related stories.

This is a one-stop shop for tea lovers, since they will find a variety of exclusive and premier quality tea products of seven main tea providers in Sri Lanka including Russels. The five invited companies are Akbar Brothers (Pvt) Ltd, Bogawanthalawa Tea Estates Ltd., Ranfer Teas, Imperial Teas, Empire Tea (Pvt) Ltd. and Amezon Trading (Pvt) Ltd, he said.

Out of the selected companies Bogawanthalawa Tea Estates has its own plantation in Bogawanthalawa Sub District which is considered the Golden Valley of Ceylon Tea by tea connoisseurs around the world.

During the launch of this unique concept Bogawanthalawa Tea Estates will conduct a tea tasting and sampling session. Akbar Brothers will display Akbar Iced Tea, which is the latest addition to the Akbar range of products, sold in more than 80 countries around the world.

Jetwing Travels is helping to make this place a tourist attraction.

Seylan Tikiri Plus takes children’s savings to new heights

Seylan Bank recently re-launched its dedicated children’s account in a bigger, better and brighter version - “Seylan Tikiri Plus”.

With its massive array of gifts ranging from mugs, school bags, scrabble boards and radios to gift vouchers, organs and BMX bikes, “Seylan Tikiri Plus” goes on record as being the only children’s account in Sri Lanka which offers the biggest ever combination of gifts.

The top gift is the all-expenses-paid trip to Bangkok Dream World where 25 children and both parents of each can indulge to their hearts content. As its name rightly suggests, the Bangkok Dream World gives both children and parents the chance to experience the spectacular atmosphere of this huge amusement park. Set in beautifully landscaped gardens, there are linked paths, pools, legendary castles, exciting shows and more than 15 unforgettable rides for everyone to explore in its four Lands of Dream.

“Seylan Tikiri”, its original version, was initially launched in 1992 and enjoyed the distinction of being Sri Lanka’s first ever gift-related children’s scheme.

A household name since that time, it drew thousands of children over the years. It even went on to win the coveted award of ‘Service Brand of the Year’ at the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing’s Brand Excellence Awards ceremony following its nationwide launch. Today, revamped and re-launched in its new version, “Seylan Tikiri PLUS” is poised to capture the hearts of little children all over Sri Lanka.

The savings habit, as actively promoted by Seylan Bank, also encompasses Student Savings Centres in a total of 83 schools all over the country. While rewarding child depositors across Sri Lanka, it also inculcates and encourages the savings habit from a very early age. These Centres are run by the senior students themselves who have, in turn, been trained by the Seylan Bank. This training, has also been identified as one that is very useful in later years. Parallely, the savings habit, introduced and nurtured from a very early age, will undoubtedly come in good stead as these same children become the responsible adults of tomorrow.

Seylan Bank Assistant General Manager Marketing Kamal Deshapriya said, “Rejuvenated and with a zest for dynamism, Seylan Bank, as the “only bank with a heart”, feels the pulse of the masses and is totally in tune with the aspirations of the Sri Lankan public. The re-launch of this children’s savings account as “Seylan Tikiri Plus” also stems from the Seylan Bank’s efforts to constantly innovate and add greater value to its portfolio of products and services to the Sri Lankan public irrespective of age.”

“Our turn-around has been dramatic. Literally rising from the ashes, Phoenix-like, the Seylan Bank is currently on a vibrant course to interact with customers in a more diversified manner and thereby create greater and novel opportunities for them prosper,” Deshapriya said.

BnS and Coca-Cola in Jaffna

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka organized a concert at Durayappah Stadium, and rocked Jaffna with music, dancing and a local flavour, featuring Bathiya N Santush (BnS), Sri Lanka’s most popular musical duo.

This concert was part of a series of BnS concerts organized by Coca-Cola Beverages, which included successful shows in Kandy, Colombo and Matara.

The duo and their crew, consisting of Ashanthi De Alwis, Randhir Vitana and Umara Singhawansa are known for their diverse musical range and exhilarating concerts.

For the Jaffna concert, they teamed up with popular Tamil artiste M. Shivakumar, Nilukshi, George Stanley, Morin Jenet, Nawagampura Ganesh, Reena, Siranjeevi and Raj Prathapan, who were supported by the group Agni.

Credit card bill payments:

HSBC expands partner network

HSBC tied up with Arpico Supercentres, to offer credit card bill payments at all Arpico Supercentre outlets.

The new agreement offers customers the convenience of settling their credit card payments at the following locations - Arpico Hyde Park corner, Battaramulla, Dehiwela, Nawinna, Negombo, Kandy, Gampaha, Wellawatte, Kiribathgoda and Boralesgamuwa. This is in addition to the 15 HSBC branches, 156 selected post offices, Abans showrooms, all Lanka Bell, Cargills, Keells and Singer outlets and all Commercial Bank and National Savings bank branches that accept credit card payments. HSBC Channels and Distribution Head James Rebert said, “Our partnership with Arpico will provide our widespread customer base the convenience to make credit card payments at Arpico outlets which are close to their home or office.

By expanding our partner network, customers, especially those residing in the suburbs that do not have direct access to a branch, can still carry out their credit card payments with ease.”

Union Bank opens in Atchuvely

Union Bank will open its newest branch in Atchuvely today. The bank has already opened four other branches namely, Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar and Chunnakam to serve customers in the North of Sri Lanka.

A spokesperson for the bank said that Union Bank is a preferred bank for SME and Retail Banking sectors and the bank has a comprehensive product portfolio to service areas such as Atchuvely that are agriculture based and thereby support the development of livelihoods of the farming community in the area.

The bank offers a range of flexible financial options including loan schemes with attractive repayment plans and low interest rates for the purchase of tractors, farm machinery, equipment and construction of agriculture wells.

In addition, the bank is also actively promoting the Central Bank approved credit lines including the North and East credit line that was established for the resumption of economic activities in the North and the East of Sri Lanka.

As an addition to its retail banking product portfolio, the bank recently launched the EasyPlus current account targeting the low income earners.