SLFEA makes Rs seven million profit

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency (SLFEA) has become a profitable organization and has made Rs 7 million profits for last year.

The SLFEA recovered from a loss of Rs 23 million in 2009 and is on the path of making profits. The Agency was able to increase the skilled labour job opportunities to bring in more foreign exchange to the country, SLFEA Chairman Asanga Abeygoonasekara told Daily News Business.

There have been 211 recruitments for the first five months of this year. Year 2010 recorded 761 recruitments up from 309 recorded for 2009, he said.

The Agency had paid Rs 10 million as refunds for Korean job applicants where the jobs were not available due to various reasons. The “Sayuren Etherata” programme launched with the guidance of MP Namal Rajapaksa was a huge success, he said.

The SLFEA also introduced a five year plan with Ernst and Young Transactions Advisory (Pvt) Ltd and started functioning during this year.

Most of the development activities were absorbed from Mahinda Chintana programme. The Agency sent a batch of 300 unskilled labour workers to Israel as agriculture workers.

It functions according to the 5 S concept which was implemented in the inception.

The Agency has provided the applicants with the facility to register online and it has become a convenient and easy mode of applying for foreign jobs.

The SLFEA has taken initiatives to provide ICT facilities to rural schools and increase the level of ICT literacy among children through its e-school programme.

This has become a popular mode of e-learning in schools, Abeygoonasekara said