ADVERTORIAL

Abans launch LG Optimus Black Android

Smartphone with Mobitel:

Abans, sole agents for LG Electronics, Korea, together with Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel launched the latest and most sophisticated smartphone - the LG Optimus Black, one of the world's slimmest and brightest Android Smartphones. Providing users with a dramatically brighter 4-inch NOVA display in one of the world's slimmest 6-9.2 mm mobile device, the LG Optimus Black creates a one-of-a-kind user experience by providing a faster and smoother multitasking experience with virtually no screen lag. Abans has partnered Mobitel, to offer an exclusive value pack to customers who purchase the LG Optimus Black phone.

All customers who purchase the LG Optimus Black Smartphone are entitled to a value pack that includes voice, sms, and data features. Mobitel's state of the art extensive 3.5G network, delivers enhanced solutions with a commitment to increasing network capacity and serves as the ideal platform for new technology.

Available for the first time in the mobile market, the LG Optimus Black's NOVA display is designed to be the brightest, clearest and most readable mobile screen with 700 nits of brightness for optimal visibility.

The LG Optimus Black provides users with an easier and more natural experience when browsing the web, reading emails, and writing documents with higher levels of brightness and pure white tones that deliver true black and white colours for ideal handset viewing. NOVA technology featured on the LG Optimus Black enables users to maintain visibility whether indoors or outdoors under strong sunlight.

In addition to greater luminosity, the NOVA display on the LG Optimus Black also radically reduces power consumption by 50 percent during general indoor use compared to a conventional LCD. Similarly, AMOLED screens consume twice as much power as NOVA screens to display a full white screen; the most frequently used colour scheme for web browsing. Combined with the 1500 mAh battery of the LG Optimus Black, users will have enough power for their daily needs, even at maximum brightness settings.

Users will never be out of style with the LG Optimus Black's ultra slim 9.2 mm design. Making a strong visual statement, the LG Optimus Black weighs only 109g and offers sleek lines and smooth edges that improve handheld grip. Tapering down to the world's thinnest smartphone profile of 6.0 mm, LG Optimus Black's subtle back arch helps to create the illusion of even greater slimness and increase the chic factor.

All LG Optimus Black features are available on the Android 2.2 Froyo platform with Android 2.3 Gingerbread upgrade capability.

Lankem paints Dalada Maligawa for Esala Perahera

Lankem Paints Ltd, manufacturers and marketers of Robbialac Paints has once again undertaken the painting of the entire Dalada Maligawa complex in Kandy for the seventh consecutive year in preparation for the forthcoming Esala Perehera.

The Kandy Esala Perehera commences with the Kumbal Perahera on August 04.

Attracting devotees from all over Sri Lanka and foreign visitors from different parts of the globe, it culminates with the spectacular Randoli Perahera on August 13.

Lankem Ceylon PLC Director Ruwan T. Weerasinghe said, "We consider it a great honour to be able to contribute to Sri Lanka's rich culture and heritage through such endeavours.

As a totally home grown company, we at Lankem Robbialac owe a debt of gratitude to the people of Sri Lanka.

With this in mind we will soon launch our newest CSR initiative - "Siyak Puda Bim Robbialac Varna Pooja" - whereby Lankem Robbialac will provide free paint to 100 less privileged places of religious worship and thus extend its cooperation to all religions in this country."

Reputed for manufacturing and marketing its flagship brand 'Robbialac', Lankem Paints Ltd is today, Sri Lanka's largest 100 percent local coatings manufacturer and marketeers. As pioneer in the local paints industry, it counts more than 25 years of wide ranging experience. Lankem's portfolio includes decorative, industrial, epoxies, primers, ancillary, anti corrosives, auto refinish and wood care ranges which cater to all needs of the Sri Lankan paints consumer.

Janashakthi launches 'Hotel Plus'

Janashakthi Insurance PLC enriched its wide ranging portfolio of insurance products with the recent launch of 'Janashakthi Hotel Plus' for Sri Lanka's growing tourism and hotel industry. Hotel Plus is a comprehensive insurance policy which provides insurance cover to all operators ranging from star-class hotels, boutique hotels to all Tourist Board approved Rest Houses.

Janashakthi Hotel Plus covers 11 frequent and critical areas under risk such as Fire and Allied perils, Fire Consequential Loss, Burglary, Public Liability, Money in Transit, Breakage of Glass, Personal Accident, Fidelity Guarantee, Workmen's Compensation, Electronic Equipment and Boiler and Pressure Vessel. Janashakthi Hotel Plus also has the flexibility to customise these offerings in keeping with each circumstance and the attendant risks. Serene Pavilions Wadduwa, a 07-star boutique hotel, signed up for the first-ever Janashakthi Hotel Plus policy. Its Deputy Chairman/ CEO Anura Lokuhetty said, "Tourist arrivals from January to June this year were 381,538 which is a 37 percent growth over the same period last year.

The industry is on a sharp upward growth. I'm happy that Sri Lanka's hotel operators have finally got a comprehensive insurance policy with such a wide scope of cover which safeguards them against various kinds of risks that we most often face".

Lokuhetty who is also the President of the Hotel Association of Sri Lanka said that this was an ideal tool for the hotel industry which not only brings in relief but also great peace of mind.

Commenting on this unique and one-of-its-kind policy, Janashakthi's Managing Director Prakash Schaffter said that with the rise in tourism and the expansion of several hotels and resorts throughout the country, the need for a comprehensive hotel insurance policy has been identified. "We are currently in the year of "Visit Sri Lanka 2011" as the country opens its doors to an anticipated 750 thousand foreign visitors.

We are also parallely gearing for the anticipated 2.5 million tourist arrivals by 2016. The country's North and East are also popular tourist destinations. All this necessitates different kinds of new accommodation from Guest Houses to mainstream hotels and the more upmarket boutique hotels which are currently being built all over the country".

"We are all aware that certain insurance covers are compulsory for tourist accommodation providers to get Tourist Board approval." Schaffter said.

Grohe congratulates Charter House

Grohe General Manager Pradip Patnaik during a recent visit to Sri Lanka, applauded Charter House's current market leadership, as well as the strategies it has adopted for sustained future success.

Pointing to the strong positioning efforts undertaken by Charter House on behalf of the world-renowned Grohe brand, Patnaik commended the company's vision and understanding of the market.

Charter House's in-depth market knowledge is founded upon over 20 years of marketing and supplying bathroom solutions to the hospitality, residential and commercial sectors. Now that the national economy is finally reaping the dividends of peace, Charter House is perfectly positioned to provide the premium quality products needed by the rapidly growing construction industry.

Over the past year alone, the company has introduced both the Baulines and Ondus ranges from Grohe to cater to different customer segments.

Heartened by the evolving local market, Patnaik was effusive about the Sri Lankan launch of the Ondus range of bathware.

This fully digital, radical new line of bathware revolutionizes the bath experience by allowing users to customize water temperature, flow rate, and spray pattern through a sleek, intuitive remote control. Its sensual minimalist design appeals to the most discriminating consumers, with every faucet, mixer and accessory reflecting this dramatically different design aesthetic.

The Ondus and Baulines ranges, along with the rest of the premium quality bath and sanitary ware ranges from Grohe, Inda, and Bravat can be viewed at the Charter House Lifestyle showroom at Havelock Road, Colombo 5. The ultra-modern showroom features ample parking, giving prospective customers the chance to experience first-hand the style and functionality of the company's extensive offerings.

Patnaik lauded Charter House for achieving its ambitious sales and marketing objectives for 2010 and was confident in the company's ability to end 2011 on a high note.

British Council recognizes ILC as IELTS registration centre

British Council and City & Guilds have appointed International Language Centre (ILC) as an IELTS registration centre and approved the centre recently.

ILC is currently offering City & Guilds internationally recognized qualifications such as Access Certificate for English teachers, reception operations and services, customer services and selling, sales and marketing, finance and accounting and English for office skills with modern educational facilities and air conditioned study rooms.

ILC is one of the leading foreign language study institutes in Sri Lanka which provides almost all foreign language classes, IT courses and other internationally recognized general courses.

The ILC is the subsidiary of American Institute of Information Technology - AIIT, a trusted and leading educational institute in Sri Lanka operating for the last eight years with many International Accreditation.

Head of the Department Hizam Omerbatcha said one of the aims of establishing ILC is mainly to educate the people on the importance of International Language Studies and offer high standard foreign language classes at affordable course fee.

He said today many students fail to understand the value of learning foreign languages. Hence they miss lot of opportunities like suitable jobs, career advancements, foreign universities, joint ventures, scholarships and grants.

Currently ILC offers all main foreign language courses such as English, Korean, Italian, Chinese, German, French, Japanese, Arabic, Dutch, Hindi, Spanish and Russian together with local languages.

Booming development activities in Sri Lanka will certainly create more job opportunities in Sri Lanka and more thrust to learn foreign languages.

Apart from this, the Korean government is ready to offer more migrating work opportunities for Sri Lankans but insists on proficiency exam before departure.

Italian Government too agreed to grant initially around 3,500 job opportunities in Italy for Sri Lankans. Since all these recruitment are done by through Italian Embassy in Sri Lanka, knowledge of Italian is going to be certainly a plus point.

Further by learning foreign languages there are huge amount of scholarships available for those who know the respective foreign languages. But most of them are unaware about these opportunities.

"Our qualified and experienced lecture panel includes local and foreigners. We have special crash courses for Korean, French, Arabic and English for persons who intend to migrate from the country to pursue higher education or employment," he said.

Hemas Manufacturing rewards top achievers

Hemas Manufacturing recently presented plans for the new financial year to its sales staff and marketing team at the Annual Sales Conference 2011/12. The theme unveiled for the new financial year is "Dream. Drive. Deliver".

Chief guest on the occasion was Hemas Holdings CEO Husein Esufally.

Addressing the gathering, keynote speaker Imal Fonseka congratulated his sales colleagues and business partners for meeting this year's targets. "I am proud of this team which has fought every bit of the way to ensure victory for our brands across numerous battlefronts.

Exceptional results like this, come from great leadership, vision and team spirit", he said.

"The year behind us was a tough one with many challenges. It takes great people to achieve great results.

We need to drive together as one organisation, as a team with passion and determination, and thereby deliver superior results.

Let's forge ahead, let's stick to basics, let's excel and emerge victorious, true to our theme.

Without the support of all Departments we cannot reach our goal. As one family and as one team we will excel and be a bigger and better organisation next year", Fonseka said.

Achievers Night 2010/11 took place the same evening, where top performers were honoured. The winning teams from the General Trade, Modern Trade and the "Star Reps" were rewarded with trips to Asian region destinations such as Malaysia and Bangkok.

Key awards in General Trade went to Best Region - East Region (Area Sales Manager - Mahinda Rajathunga), Best Sub Region - North West 01 Sub 03 (Sales Executive - Krishantha Sampath), Star Sales Representative Range 01 - K Thankathurai, Star Sales Representative Range 02 - B. Puvidaran and Winner Distributor Competition - Najath Enterprises - Kalmunai R1 & R2. (A M M Jafeer). The award for the Best Modern Trade Channel went to Sathosa (Customer Manager - Mr Chandana Gamage)

Hutch rewards dealers with 'Swarna Abhisheka'

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

Hutch (Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka (Private) Limited) recorded nearly 70 percent business growth for the past six months and is looking forward to continue the trend with its promotional activities. The Swarna Abhisheka campaign has been an ideal mechanism to generate business, Hutch Chief Executive Officer Anand Prakash said.

With the objective of broadbasing its customer network this year; Hutch introduced a unique reward scheme, which gave their loyal retailers the opportunity to win extra prizes during the year, he said. 'Instead of having a smaller number of high valued prizes, we lowered the net worth of each prize and increased the number of prizes to be won, giving retailers the choice of targeting what they really wanted to win', Prakash said.

There will be substantial investment regarding network expansion where Hutch intend to set up sites across the country to reach 1,000 sites within the next six months. The key focus will be the North and the North Central Provinces. "We are considering investing more to fuel the business growth. Hutch will introduce the 3G facility for its customers in the near future, he said.

The 'Swarna Abhisheka'rewards scheme has been a great success in terms of retailer participation, making prize winners out of over 10% of the participants.

The objective of this marketing exercise was to further develop retailer relationships and expand customer penetration. This objective was clearly met across the country, and the winners of the 'Swarna Abhisheka' programme were facilitated at a grand ceremony held at the Taj Colombo recently.

Hutch Retailer Pradeep Kumar from Bower Communications, Kelaniya was the highest rewards earner winning prizes to the value of over Rs 250,000 Nalin Darshana from Paba Communications also in Kelaniya came second and in third place was Nilmini Dilrukshi from Gampola. The lucky winners were awarded at a grand ceremony held at the Taj Samudra earlier this week.

By introducing the 'Swarna Abhisheka' programme in February this year, Hutch has once again come up with a unique approach of rewarding its clients. Applicable to retailers island-wide, this innovative programme provides a variety of choices of converting commissions earned into rewards.

The 'Swarna Abhisheka' programme differentiates itself by empowering participants to decide which reward to aim for. The scheme offers Hutch Pre-paid card retailers the option of converting their commissions into redeemable token points.