ADVERTORIAL

Plans to invest Rs 200 m in North in 12 months:

Cargills opens in Manipay

Cargills Food City one of Sri Lanka’s leading supermarket chains has opened its 150th outlet in Jaffna Manipay. This comes as part of its accelerated expansion drive through which Cargills Food City aims to partner the development of regional Sri Lanka.The Manipay outlet which is an investment of Rs 40 million is the first among several Cargills Food City outlets earmarked for the Jaffna peninsula. Two other outlets are due to open in the heart of the Jaffna town and along Jaffna Kannathidi Road, while three further locations have been identified. Cargills aims to invest over Rs 200 million in the Northern peninsula over the next 12 months.

Opening of the new outlet

The Manipay outlet was opened this week by Cargills Managing Director Imtiaz Wahid and Retail Chief Operating Officer Cargills Sidath Kodikara in the presence of a large gathering of dignitaries including Local Government representatives as well as the 52nd Brigade Commander Major General Janaka Walgama.

Cargills (Ceylon) PLC Managing Director Imtiaz Wahid said, “Cargills is gratified by the response of the public of Jaffna and the warm welcome we have received.

This is simply the beginning of greater investment in the region. Cargills has already trained 1,000 farmers from Jaffna and have commenced direct purchasing. Very recently we initiated the Yal Uthpaththi program together with the Central Bank to provide markets for Palmyra farmers from the region.

The launch of this new outlet reiterates our commitment to partner the progress of our nation and its people. Over the next 12 months Cargills will invest over Rs 200 million in the Northern region. We look forward to working with the people of Jaffna towards building a stronger future for the community and the country”.

Cargills (Ceylon) PLC Retail Chief Operating Officer Sidath Kodikara said that the entry of Cargills Food City into Jaffna brings with it a range of benefits to the local community, ‘When Cargills Food City enters a region we are not simply bringing with it the convenience of a supermarket. We generate direct employment as well as create opportunities for local farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs. We create infrastructure and change lifestyles.

There is an overall improvement in the quality of life through the food safety and quality standards that we set. Our prices are uniform across all districts so there is an immediate impact to the cost of living. The value that Cargills Food City creates for local communities goes well beyond the visible impact to touch and change lives.”, he said.

The new Cargills Food City at Manipay offers an ultra modern shopping experience for customers and is open from 8 am to 11 pm daily.

The new outlet features a range of 10,000 products, a pharmacy, fresh vegetables and fish as well as a wide variety of high quality processed meat and much, much more. The shopping experience is heightened further with ample parking facilities.

Cargills Food City is rated the fourth most Valuable Brand in Sri Lanka by the Brand Finance Index of 2009 and is also ranked among the top service brands in the country. Cargills Food City was also shortlisted for the Most Responsible Retailer of the Year Award at the World Retail Awards 2009 and 2010.

Mobitel joins GSMA Alliance combating ‘Child Abuse Content’

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel in collaboration with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the GSM Association embarked on a venture to combat the prevention of ‘Child Abuse Content’. Mobitel became one of the mobile service providers to join the Alliance in another effort to reiterate the ‘care’ element to all Sri Lankans.

The alliance’s role is to obstruct the use of the mobile environment by individuals or organizations wishing to consume or profit from child sexual abuse content. Through a combination of technical measures, co-operation and information sharing, the alliance seeks to create significant barriers to prevent the misuse of mobile networks and services for hosting, accessing, or profiting from child sexual abuse content. With the proliferation of internet usage, the content displayed on the net has become a growing concern for many.

The IWF facilitates a list of international child sexual abuse webpages. The alliance will assist Mobitel to block access to content deemed as abusive. The IWF works internationally with INHOPE Hotlines and other relevant organizations to encourage united global responses to the problem and wider adoption of good practice in combating child sexual abuse images on the internet.

Assuming its role as the National Mobile Telecommunication Services Provider, Mobitel strongly believes in its responsibility to provide child safe internet to the young generation. Therefore, despite the investments made, Mobitel took an admirable initiative by introducing a free-of-charge web content filtering service.

The objective of this service is to reduce threat posed to children as a result of unrestricted access to unfavourable.

“We welcome Mobitel to the Mobile alliance and are delighted that they are joining our initiative which aims to stem, and ultimately reverse, the growth of online child sexual abuse content, maintaining a safer mobile environment for all of our customers. With the ubiquity of technology, an increase in illegal content displayed on the net has become a growing concern and this initiative assists service providers in eradicating any inappropriate content related to child abuse,” said GSMA Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer Tom Philips.

The National Mobile Service Provider previously partnered the GSMA in a bid to empower Sri Lankan women to greater heights. The ‘mWomen’ Program, which was launched in Washington by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last month, was an indicator of Mobitel’s commitment to uplift Sri Lankan women through offering special programs and services. Mobitel strives to infuse their lives with Mobile ICT in pursuit ushering the nation towards an “infocom and knowledge rich society”.

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel CEO Suren J. Amarasekera said, “As a truly national corporate we are privileged to become a member of the IWF, in a battle to combat content abusive for children.

In our effort to nurture Sri Lanka towards becoming an info-com and knowledge rich society, we hope to propel society in the right direction through our endeavour in facilitating a safe environment for browsing.”

BRMS launches ‘Careerguild’

Business Resource Management Services (BRMS), Colombo. a leading management consulting, training and research firm in collaboration with Jaffna’s IIS City Campus, is launching a product under the Careerguild program of BRMS, titled Shift of Paradigm to elicit the youth to bring out their latent talents to the open, and display them Professionally.

Managing Partner and Consultant Wasantha Senannayake said that BRMS has stepped forward with their career counseling arm Careerguild by offering their ‘Youth Enrichment Program’ to the Sri Lankan youth thus providing them an opportunity of undergoing an intensive program to groom themselves to be compatible to the ‘World of Work’ in keeping with their aspirations, aptitude, educational background and desired professions.

He said that the company joined with IIS City Campus Jaffna to promote this program, initially to the schools and educational institutions in and around Jaffna and subsequently to take the program to other city centres as well.

RK

Annual Report 2009:

SLT receives two awards

Sri Lanka Telecom. (SLT) received two prestigious awards for its Annual Report 2009 the Gold award under the Information Communication Technology Category of the Chartered Accountants Annual Report Awards 2009 conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) and the award of the Best Presented Accounts under the Telecommunications Sector of the Annual Report Awards 2009 conducted by the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA).

Sri Lanka Telecom won the SAFA award for the third consecutive year and the ICASL Award for the fourth consecutive year. The awards recognize excellence in preparation, content, format, presentation, financial accounts and timeliness. This is testimony to the company’s excellence in reporting - its wholehearted commitment and dedication as well as strong sense of accountability to its stakeholders to present information in the most fair and transparent manner whilst maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance - in line with best global practices.

Working capital financing operations:

LB Finance launches

factoring

LB Finance launched its Factoring and Working Capital Business Unit on Tuesday. The business unit promises to boost the benchmark of factoring and working capital finance by introducing ground breaking financial tools which would give local businesses a vital edge. LB Finance believes its visionary mandate for the new business unit would give factoring the recognition it deserves as an important and pragmatic business tool.

LB Finance Managing Director Sumith Adhihetty granting the first loan to CEDAR Engineering Managing Director Jerome Seewarthnam. Picture by Sudath Nishantha

Factoring is structured on the principle that businesses of all forms and sizes could sell their invoices to a Factoring company, converting them into ready cash while the factoring company accepts the responsibility of collecting the invoice value from the customer at the expiry of the credit period.

“It’s simple; businesses need not tie down their working capital and profits in long-term credit periods required by customers. We at LB Finance Factoring, are poised to add a new dimension to the business of factoring”, said Factoring, Corporate Lending and Investments, Deputy General Manager Ransith Karunaratne, the recent addition to the LB team.

One of the most experienced and respected names in the factoring industry, Karunaratne will be spearheading LB’s foray into factoring and working capital finance. “I have watched with admiration, this company transforming itself into a giant within a short period after it was taken over by its current management.

Today, I am honoured to be part of a team which is poised to take the financial services industry of this country to a new level,” he said.

“I am confident that LB has the right ingredients to make it an industry leader in this new area of business adding to its already impressive product portfolio,” he said.

The unique offering of LB Finance Factoring will be fourfold according to Karunaratne.

“The most important feature is our creative and flexible approach to problem solving,” he said. “We will provide our clients with innovative, tailor-made working capital solutions to meet their specific business requirements with greater funding flexibility.

“Furthermore, LB Finance Factoring is supported by a custom-built state-of-the-art factoring and working capital management system.

“Clients will enjoy a dedicated relationship management team who will provide personalized support at all times, our team counting over 50 years experience between them is poised to give our clients the confidence necessary to develop and continue their success,” he said.

Homerun holds Sisu Pabasara

Warna Mangalya

On December 10 and 11, the Battaramulla Janakala Kendrayaturned into a grand display of art and creativity through the Sisu Pabasara 2010 Art Exhibition and prize giving organized by Homerun Pas in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The Education Minister Bandula Gunawardana was the chief Guest.

As this was an islandwide competition, this year’s event generated a large number of entries from children of all ages. The entries were judged under six categories. The organizing committee who expected a high standard of creativity from this year’s entries as in the past were pleased with the calibre of creativity.

Colour Products is a local company which has seen success both locally and internationally ever since its inception in 1959. The company produces a wide range of products from pastels to watercolours in an array of different pack sizes to cater to the needs of their consumers.

The company has always maintained high quality standards since their inception. Recently the company received the ISO 9001:2008 International Standard. This accolade was in addition to the SLS standardization certificate, which they received several years earlier which verifies their dedication to producing quality products.

Through this strategy the company has won the hearts of the Sri Lankan consumer and has clinched the number one position in the local market. The company has also introduced a range of oil pastels such as Fantasy, Picasso and Disney which have received acclaim in the international markets such as Israel.

Homerun in collaboration with DFCC Bank also organized the Narthana Ullela on the November 11, 2010.