ADVERTORIAL

BoC: Brand Champion for third straight year

Brand Finance Lanka recently released its annual rating of Sri Lanka's most valuable brands for the seventh consecutive year.

BOC topped the table for the third consecutive year, with a value of Rs 16.7 billion and a brand rating of AA+.

The research for Sri Lanka's most valuable brands is carried out through the financial information that is available in annual reports and through a market research study that is conducted. The analysis is carried out by Financial Analysts in London.

The brand value is a point in time valuation using the royalty relief methodology, whilst the brand rating provides investors with the future outlook for the brand and indicates the ability of the brand to attract future revenue for the business.

BoC Chairman Dr Gamini Wickramasinghe said "while this is a useful independent verification of our standing, the insights provided by Brand Finance is a valuable tool as it enables us to strengthen ourselves by focusing on the key levers of brand value generation in the competitive financial services market. We believe that the brand can indeed play a significant role in this endeavour. This study also shows that Government enterprises can compete effectively with the private sector and emerge on top."

Brand Finance Plc was founded in London in 1996. It is now the world's leading independent brand valuation and value-based marketing consultancy, offering a wide range of services in the fields of marketing finance to branded companies globally.

Brand Finance Lanka is a subsidiary of Brand Finance Plc which operates in Sri Lanka.

Caltex 'Water & Life' project goes to North, East

Jointly presented by Chevron, the marketer of Caltex branded lubricants in Sri Lanka, and Kalasoori Sathischandra Edirisinghe's Mihindu Cultural Foundation, 'Water & Life' is a dedicated awareness building campaign designed to educate all citizens on the importance of preserving Sri Lanka's National hydro-cultural heritage.

Water is critical not only to life, but also to the economic growth of a nation and its environmental outcomes. Thus, this exhibition series was birthed to highlight the critical issue of depleting water resources and inadequate preservation systems for this vital natural resource.

Further, the exhibition series is used as a platform to create ' environmentally-conscious' advocates amongst the schools children, thereby taking a critical step forward with our present generation towards strengthening Sri Lanka's future prosperity and sustainable growth as a nation.

Under the first phase of the campaign, exhibitions were conducted in Anuradhapura, Hingurakgoda, Weeraketiya, Embilipitiya, Kebithigollewa, Galgamuwa, Kurunegala, Pollannaruwa, Hambantota and Colombo.

The next phase of the campaign will be launched in the North and East, with emphasis given to communities who make a livelihood and depend on agriculture and fisheries as a source of income. The exhibition series will be conducted in Puttalam, Nikaweratiya, Dambulla, Batticaloa, Trinco, Moneragala, Ampara, Mahiyangana, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Jaffna.

Parallel to the exhibition series, a highly informative tri-lingual educational book for school children was also launched. The book contains a wealth of information regarding Sri Lanka's vast historic and contemporary aquatic resources. During the campaign, the book will be donated to over two thousand school libraries islandwide.

Chevron has partnered in numerous rural and community development initiatives to help uplift the well-being of the citizens of the country.

KOICA technical training

Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Bandarawela Technical College held the notable ceremony at Bandarawela TC on May 12 which was the successful completion of KOICA's Volunteers Assistance programme - OVOG Project (One Village One Garage).

KOICA Deputy Resident Representative, the principal of Bandarawela TC, DTET (Department of Technical Education and Training) Director General, Representative from UN office in Bandarawela, Representative from PLAN International Moneragala Office and Japanese Overseas Co-operation Volunteer (JOCV), attended the event.

A KOICA's volunteer, Cheon Sung-Woo, as an automotive training instructor in Bandarwela Technical College from July 2009, has been trying to offer more job opportunities to residents in the region. Being aware of high demands for repairs and maintenance of three-wheeler, he planned the small scale project for 'three-wheeler auto mechanic workshop' for local three-wheelers - OVOG Project. Upon consideration, he finally launched an automotive training course for three-wheelers to repair and maintain in July 2010 through the completed preparatory research to the project and discussion with officials of the college for one year.

The course consisted of theoretical lectures for 1.5 months and on-the job training for 2.5 months in some of three-wheeler repair shops in the region.

Based on the success of the training programmes, he introduced Self-Employment Program Initiatives (SEPI) which is run by DTET to the graduates with a quite low interest for their self-support. Now his first graduates work for their own garage in Bandarwela and for large-scale companies like TVS and BAJAJ in Colombo. His second training programme commenced in March.

This Programme is expected to contribute not only to numbers of residents in Bandarawela area to have a opportunity for attaining a technical knowledge about three-wheelers but also to many other KOICA's volunteers in Sri Lanka to be motivated by his experimental attempt and his encouraging success.

Metropolitan partners Fonterra

Metropolitan partnered with Fonterra Brands Lanka Pvt Ltd to implement an islandwide IT infrastructure upgrading project aimed at automating fieldsales and speedy delivery of consumer services across the island.

The project which included a three phased rolling out of software and equipment, training of field sales and stock taking staff took place across the island.

All consignments agent staff and sales representatives were trained to use the new software and usage of PDA's and mobile printers in this project. Since the field sales staff has been provided with PDA's and mobile printers for real time transaction processing, customer invoice is being generated online. Once the PDA is synchronized through GPRS, all transactions are uploaded in the central server of Fonterra in Singapore.

Metropolitan has also set up a 24-hour call center to attend to the needs of the field staff and consignment agents to ensure that the processes and transactions are not hindered in any way.

The help desk will provide assistance on software and hardware, data entry and data management, as well as sales and operations issues.

"The effectiveness of our operations underpins the timely and reliable delivery of our popular dairy Nutritional products to our Customers. It was important for us to work with a partner who could enhance our existing capabilities and manage the transition seamlessly. By upgrading our distribution and sales processes with Metropolitan, we have improved the efficiency of our deliveries and enhanced Customer service," said Fonterra Brands Lanka Pvt Ltd. Managing Director Achyut Kasireddy.

"It was a challenging project considering the time limitations and the fact the project was spread across Sri Lanka, but we managed to upgrade the hardware such as computers and printers, implement the new Distributor Management software, conduct the field and consignment staff training and perform acceptance testing as well as pilot the project before the islandwide implementation in less than four months," said Metropolitan IT, GM Susil Peiris who was also in charge of the technical implementation of the project.

In remote Jaffna school:

CDB facilitates IT education

Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) recently changed the lives of the students of the J/Navatkuli Maha Vidyalayam in Thenmaratchi with the donation of a much needed IT lab. Thenmaratchi in the Jaffna district has a population of 50,000 out of which 650 children attend the Navatkuli Maha Vidyalayam.

This state-of-the-art IT lab, with its new furniture, latest HP branded computers, LCD monitors, printers, stationery, scanners and internet facilities were gifted to the school as part of CDB's islandwide CSR initiative. It was unveiled by CDB's Director and Chief Operations Officer Roshan Abeygoonawardena, along with the senior members of CDB, School Principal Mahalingam, students and well-wishers in Navatkuli.

Expressing her gratitude, the School's Principal Mahalingam said, "Education today is interconnected with technology which has become part and parcel of our lives.

Our children were deprived of an IT education and access to the Internet for a very long time. We had to travel long distances, without proper transportation, to access email and the Internet. This gift by CDB has opened out our community to the marvels of IT skills.

This is indeed a very important milestone in the history of our school. We are deeply grateful to CDB for this initiative. Not only will it enrich our school but also our entire community here in Thenmaratchi."

Speaking on the occasion, CDB's Director and Chief Operations Officer Roshan Abeygoonawardena said, "We have been conducting IT lab projects for the past three years as part of effective CSR to enhance IT education among rural youth. We know that in the global village we live in today, it is the 'Word of Mouse' rather than 'Word of Mouth' that is more important.

The prime objective of this initiative is to give rural youth access to information technology and thereby address the balance of inequality in IT education.

With IT skills being key pre-requisites for education and employment, this project at the Navatkuli Maha Vidyalayam will enable these students to see their future in a positive light."

Dankotuwa Porcelain showcases entire products range

At an event with many interesting activities, Dankotuwa Porcelain PLC showcased their entire range of products suitable for the hospitality industry, value added tea companies, hospitals and other large corporate users, at Cinnamon Lakeside recently. The event was attended by the top management of many of the targeted organisations.

The Company displayed its entire range of whiteware shapes with suggestions for starters, soup, sorbet, main course and dessert. Dankotuwa boasts of having the largest range of shapes in Sri Lanka since it has developed several shapes for their overseas customers. While the showrooms in Colombo have only a limited range of the more popular shapes, Chefs and other hoteliers who have visited the 'shapes hall' of the factory were pleased to see the variety. While most speciality restaurants in developed countries have appropriate shapes to serve the particular selection, such as an elongated fish like plate for the fish course, and a shell like dish for the shellfish starter and so on, the restaurants in Sri Lanka, and local caterers have very few choices. The event gave the invitees a very good idea of the entire selection available, and will enable the Chefs to select an appropriate shape for his special creation.

Porcelain is a complex product and only trained persons could distinguish high quality porcelain from the ordinary. In fact some who have made decisions based on low price, have had to repent later. Therefore the event included a demonstration to prove the high quality of Dankotuwa products by displaying the strength of the body by inviting volunteers to stand on the edges of the plate, its translucency compared with lower quality products, its thermal shock resistance where you could dip an item into cold water straight from the oven, its chip and scratch resistance etc.