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Vallibel Finance in Ratnapura

Vallibel Finance opened a branch in Ratnapura. Having recently moved into new Head Office premises in Colombo 3, Vallibel Finance is continually pushing ahead with its campaign to broaden its branch network and increase dominance throughout the island as a part of its development plans for the post-war recovery period.

Vallibel Finance Managing Director Jayantha Rangamuwa opening the Ratnapura branch. Director Anuradha Perera and several senior members of the Vallibel Finance management look on.

In the wake of its recent branch opening in Kandy, Minuwangoda, Aluthgama and Maharagama, the company identified Ratnapura as the next bustling city to capture.

The company’s vigorous expansion strategy has many more developments in store, achieving overall growth in assets, profits, income, fixed deposits during the last financial year despite the challenges of multi-dimensional competition within the industry.

“This year we are even more focused on extending our reach around Sri Lanka; our operations have grown to such extents that we needed to shift into a bigger head office,” said Vallibel Finance Managing Director Jayantha Rangamuwa.

“We are planning several more branches during the course of this year, building on our recent successes; we are looking at moving into the North-West and South soon as well. Our driving purpose is to make modern financial tools accessible to every Sri Lankan as communities recover from the war as well as more recent events such as the flooding.”

Vallibel Finance offers value-added and simplified solutions through fixed deposits, leasing and hire purchase, term loans, micro finance etc.

The Vallibel Finance Ratnapura branch is located at No. 8A, Bodhiraja Mawatha, Ratnpura.

Ceylinco Life’s 2010 annual bonuses top Rs 1.5 b

Over 300,000 policyholders benefit this year :

Ceylinco Life said that 310,000 policyholders will receive a record Rs. 1.59 billion in annual bonuses this year, from the surplus generated by its Life Fund in 2010.

Ceylinco Life building

The bonus payments to policyholders whose policies were active as at December 31, 2010, exceeds that of the previous year by Rs 200 million and reflects a 14.4 percent increase. The value of the Life Fund of Ceylinco Life stood at Rs 31.868 billion as at December 31, 2010.

The bonus certificates will be posted to policyholders commencing March 20, the company said. Policyholders can also enter a draw at which 500 winners will receive a range of valuable Ceylinco Life branded gift items, by sending their details to the company using pre-paid envelopes enclosed with the bonus certificates.

“Year after year, Ceylinco Life has consistently delivered more than its promise to hundreds of thousands of policyholders,” the company’s Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Thushara Ranasinghe said. “This year’s annual bonus payout is evidence of our continued commitment to this important aspect,” Ranasinghe said.

“Apart from the increase in the total value of bonuses, the number of recipients has increased significantly,” he said. “This is a reflection of our success in another aspect — taking life insurance to a wider segment of the population,” he said.

Ceylinco Life also rewards longstanding policyholders through its ‘Avurudu Bonus’ scheme during the festive season every year. This year too, such cash bonuses are to be home delivered to longstanding life policyholders in April.

Ceylinco Life’s policy of declaring bonuses from the very first year of issue of a policy, enables even a policyholder who obtained a policy in December 2010 to receive a bonus allotment as at December 31 of the same year.

‘Creating a WOW in the Workplace’:

UA holds HR Week

Union Assurance (UA) recently conducted a HR Week for the first time at its Head Office complex. The focus of the HR Week revolved around a unique three part presentation replete with video clips. All staff members were invited in batches to participate in the presentation.

The week prior to the HR Week, a teaser campaign was started with danglers on all floors stating: Focus me, Care about me, Inspire Me and Know me.

Staff members at the program

The aim of the presentation was to create an awareness of the role of HR followed by an explanation of HR Development activities launched by the company and ending with the requirement for all employees to be Brand Ambassadors.

The main focus of the presentation was taking the now famous “Union Culture” to the next level. The main components of fostering the Union Culture was broadly categorized as follows:

Provide a workplace where employees feel valued, inspired and confident.

Help employees achieve their professional goals and recognize and respect that employees have a life beyond work.

Provision of excellent customer service.

Supporting the vision and the mission of the company.

Being excellent Brand Ambassadors in and out of office.

Employees were also explained the latest talent management initiatives and specialized training modules introduced for the talent pools, the efficacy of the Toastmasters Club and the keenness displayed by the staff for the “Bring Your Child to Work Day” for the second year in succession which was very well attended.

The newly introduced “On the Spot Recognition Scheme” also has created a renewed vigor in the minds of the staff says who is the UA Human Resources General Manager Brigadier Rohan Jayasinghe.

The latest venture from HR is the “Great BMI Challenge” where volunteers who presumed they were over weight were subjected to the Body Mass Index test. A total of 72 staff members enrolled in the competition.

Grand prizes will be awarded to those who lose 10 kgs or more after six months.

An Internet kiosk with free access too had been opened at the lunch room. Many more similar endeavours too are planned to ensure the “WOW” factor is maintained in the hearts and minds of the staff.

Emirates boosts Manchester route

Emirates Airline is boosting its route to Manchester with the introduction of a third daily non-stop flight to cater for a continued growth in demand. With the introduction of the additional flight, Emirates will become the first carrier to operate three daily flights to Manchester from the same long haul destination. The new service, which commences on May 1 will increase Emirates’ capacity by 25 percent.

“Manchester is a real success story. To be adding a third flight months after introducing our 517-seat A380 superjumbo to the route reflects surging demand for our flights in and out of the north west of England,” said Emirates’ Commercial Operations, Europe and Russian Federation Senior Vice President Salem Obaidalla.

The additional flight will depart daily from Manchester at 9.40am, giving North West travellers a broader choice of flights to Dubai and beyond, with enhanced connections to Thailand, and cities in the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East, as well as other points across Emirates’ global network.

The introduction of the new service comes less than a year after Emirates introduced the double-decker Airbus A380 on its lunchtime service from Manchester.

The new flight EK022 will depart Manchester (Terminal 1) at 9.40am daily, arriving into Dubai at 8.00pm. The return flight from Dubai EK021 departs at 3 am arriving in Manchester at 7.55 am (all times local).

Dialog partners VIZZ Mobile

Special offer to FlySmiLes members:

Dialog Axiata is partnering with London-based QiComm to offer a unique mobile calling solution to Sri Lankans living in the UK through a new product called Dialog VIZZ Mobile.

VIZZ Mobile runs on the Vodafone network in UK and offers customers low cost calling to Sri Lanka with special rate for calls to Dialog Mobile users.

The service offers not only discounted rates to Sri Lanka but also the advantage of air time transfer service. UK customers can instantly top-up any Dialog pre-paid number in any part of Sri Lanka.

VIZZ Mobile is a fully-portable SIM, and any UK number can be ported seamlessly to the VIZZ network. VIZZ Mobile offers the best rates for calling within the UK and is positioned to replace the current SIM being used by the Sri Lankan community in the UK.

The service offers not only attractive domestic calling plans in the UK but also offers aggressive IDD rates to Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The new Dialog VIZZ Mobile SIM can be purchased and topped-up through an extensive retail network numbering over 60,000. Dialog together with VIZZ Mobile offers a 24-hour customer service through a comprehensive customer service hotline.

Users of the Dialog VIZZ Mobile SIM will be able to experience additional value-added services in the future. Customers will be able to access Sri Lankan content on their mobile phone including ring tones, music downloads, horoscopes and wallpaper.

They will also be able to subscribe to news alerts and news feeds from Sri Lanka which will be delivered to their phone each day.

Dialog VIZZ Mobile subscribers will also be able to access the largest loyalty partner network of Dialog via the Star Points program.

In addition, Dialog together with the national carrier, SriLankan, is offering exclusive benefits to members of FlySmiLes, the airline’s frequent-flyer program.

FlySmiLes members flying to the UK can pick up a free Dialog-Vizz SIM from the Dialog Service Centre at the departure lounge at Bandaranaike International Airport, and it comes with a free top-up of one sterling pound.

FITIS holds annual cricket tournament

The ICT Annual Cricket Tournament organized by the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS) was held recently for the seventh year amidst many participants in the IT industry.

Intel rendered its continued support towards the tournament by being the chief sponsor for yet another year.

Additionally to the tournament being carried out successfully, Intel’s vision of creating goodwill among all IT entities in the country was further strengthened with the participation and sponsorship of Metropolitan, Kaspersky, Redington and Esys Technologies. On the whole the cricket tournament was a success.

The final was contested between Esys Technologies (Pvt) Ltd and Caddy Shack (Pvt) Ltd.

The match was keenly fought out between both teams and as a result Caddy Shack (Pvt) Ltd emerged as the champions while Esys Technologies (Pvt) Ltd had to be content with being the runners-up. Chandran of Caddy Shack was adjudged as the man of the match owing to his outstanding performance with both bat and ball.

Intel EM Ltd Country Business Manager Indika De Zoysa said, ‘Since cricket is a global sport that breaks through boundaries, Intel has taken it upon itself to promote unity among IT corporations in Sri Lanka by means of competition on the sporting field.”