Sri Lanka Business News | Online edition of Daily News

A French business delegation met Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa at the Economic Development Ministry. Treasury Secretary and Economic Development Ministry Secretary Dr P B Jayasundera, Ambassador of France for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Christine Robichon, Embassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Maldives French Trade Commission of Colombo, Trade Commission Deputy Head Victor Maurin, French Trade Commission Economic and Commercial Councillor Jean Louis Pali, French business communities operating in Sri Lanka and officials from the Economic Development and Foreign Affairs Ministries also participated. Picture by Chaminda Hittatiya

Lanka Ashok Leyland Company presented four mini buses for the use of schoolchildren to the Transport Ministry. These buses would be used in rural areas in Nuwara Eliya. Here Ashok Leyland Managing Director Vinod K. Dasari presenting a replica of the key of a bus to Transport Minister Kumara Welgama. Lanka Ashok Leyland CEO Ashok Gautham looks on. Picture by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

Top achievers dazzle at Janashakthi Mid-Year Awards 2011

Man's thrilling passion for speed and the challenge to outperform oneself took pride of place at Janashakthi's recent annual Mid-Year Awards 2011. In keeping with the theme, the entire Grand Ballroom of the Water's Edge was transformed into a racing event with a racing track running around the entire ballroom with motivational videos.

Janashakthi’s MD Prakash Schaffter presents the Best Regional Sales Manager (General) Award to A.K.G. Pathirana and the Best Regional Sales Manager (Life) Award to W.N.C.P. Nishan while Director Ramesh Schaffter presents the Best Portfolio Manager (Life) Award to H.A.N.P. Hapuarachchi and the Best Portfolio Manager (General)Award to W.J.M. Ranga Dias.

This event was held under the patronage of chief guest Chairman W.T. Ellawala Managing Director Prakash Schaffter Director Ramesh Schaffter and members of the top management.

The stars of the evening - over 140 top sales achievers - were crowned with plaques, weekend packages, cash rewards, trophies and certificates of excellence.

Among the winners that day were: Area Development Officer Recognition Award (General) - P.D. Chandraratna and Best Sales Officer (Non-Motor Business) Diamond Award - P.H.A. Madushanka.

In the Best Life Teams, the awards were: Best Sales Supervisor - T.G. Thilaka, Best Business Promotion Assistant - H.M.D.N. Herath, Best Business Promotion Officer - O.S. Tharanga, Best Business Promotion Executive and Senior Business Promotion Executive - K.A.E. Suranga, Best Assistant Business Promotions Manager & Business Promotion Manager - J.S. Adihetti and Best Overall Life Team - Unit Leader - U.S.N. Fernando.

In the Best General Sales Teams the awards were - Best Sales Supervisor (Diamond) - L.G.M. Prabhath, Best Sales Supervisor (Gold) - H.G.S.I. Wijerathne, Best Business Promotion Assistant (Gold) - D.S. Nilusha, Best Business Promotion Assistant (Diamond) - H.W.A.C. Edirisinghe, Best Business Promotion Officer (Diamond) - S.A.K.R.S. Thilanka, Best Business Promotion Executive and Senior Business Promotion Executive - G.A.S. Indrasiri and Best Assistant Business Promotion Manager & Business Promotion Manager (Diamond) - R.P.W. Miyuru.

Among the other awards that evening were: Hall of Fame (General Insurance) Unit Leaders/A-BPM (Star Category) - L.A.P. Peiris, Hall of Fame (Gold) - R.P.W. Miyuru, Best Portfolio Manager (General) Diamond Award - W.J.M. Ranga Dias, Best Portfolio Manager (Life) - H.A.N.P. Hapuarachchi, Best Portfolio Manager (General) - W.J.M. Ranga Dias, Best Regional Sales Manager (Life) - W.N.C.P. Nishan and Best Regional Sales Manager (General) - A.K.G. Pathirana.

Addressing the gathering, Janashakthi Chairman W.T. Ellawala congratulated the winners for outperforming themselves during the first half of this year.

He urged the winners and every team member present to give of their best to achieve the year's goals in terms of both sales and profitability "The remarkable figures we have achieved are entirely due to your efforts. With your determination and passion I am confident that we can easily surpass the set targets before the end of the year". The Chairman said JIC had a vibrant portfolio of innovative and value added products which met the different needs of the market. "The North and East is a potentially growing market for insurance. This is a large market indeed and we need to drive our life insurance business in these areas".

"Janashakthi has enjoyed steady growth not only in sales but also in profitability. We have great potential to grow and to be Sri Lanka's leading insurance company in the near future. You, our team players, have the capacity to do it," Ellawala said.

Seekers making student educational dreams a reality

Seekers Worldwide Ltd., was incorporated in Sri Lanka in 2010 and founded with the objective of providing quality information to students hoping to engage in higher studies abroad and in obtaining a degree from a foreign university. Some such qualified students return to Sri Lanka but others invest in foreign education with the objective of migrating to countries such as United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Canada, Australia or New Zealand.

Students hoping to pursue a career in Sri Lanka need to ensure that their degrees are recognized by the Sri Lanka University Grants Commission under the Higher Education Ministry or in the event of a qualification in Medicine then by the Medical Council of Sri Lanka.

However students pursuing career prospects in other countries will invariably follow a degree program recognized and or accepted in such countries thus most migration regulations highlight such information.

Demand for higher education in the country continues to grow annually and due to non availability of adequate places in the local universities, students look to overseas universities for their higher education. With nearly 120,000 qualifying annually for higher education the local universities are able to take in only around 20,000 students.

Seekers Worldwide provides student counselling services for Overseas Universities and Colleges it has teamed up with and creates awareness of the higher education opportunities available and guides children to select the courses that best fits them.

Seekers also counsel parents as in cultures such as ours parental expectations and perceptions at times clashes with the students educational perceptions and wants.

Seekers play a pivotal role in guiding the student on the correct selection of their higher education needs and highlights to parents the opportunities for the child in the selected career path.

Services provided by Seekers are completely free of charge to the students. With the costs of education in UK, USA, New Zealand, Canadian and Australian Universities going up including drastic increases in food and accommodation costs, has resulted in students been placed in Malaysian, Indian and Middle Eastern Universities.

The demand is increasing particularly for the 1 + 2 or 2 + 1 transfer programs to British, New Zealand, Canadian, American or Australian Universities where the first year or two to is done at their Malaysian and or Middle Eastern Campuses. Thus the same degree cost one third the price than obtaining it in the home country of the University.

Recruitment of students to Malaysian and Middle Eastern Campuses has seen an increased demand and Seekers has successfully placed students mainly at Taylors University College for their architectural degree program which is affiliated to the Masters program at the University of Melbourne, HELP University College is popular for their Psychology Degree program of University of East London with credit transfers to over 50 Universities worldwide and will receive scholarships from the University up to 50% for year 1 and year 2 tuition fees for the UK degree transfer program for Law with its partner Universities in UK, University of Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Cardiff, Liverpool, Aberystwyth, Northumbria, Hertfordshire and West of England, Bristol, and for its Bachelor of Management / Economics / Banking / Business/ Psychology / Communications programs. These scholarships are available till December 2011. Students have further been placed for Business, Banking and Economics of the London School of Economics, University of London, Monash University Foundation program at Sunway University, Business studies from University of Lancaster, Malaysian Science University, Automotif College for Automotive Engineering, Nilai University for the Kingston University Aircraft Engineering / Maintenance program, Charles Sturt University, Australia for Business studies and IT, to name a few.

HNB, LFSUS partner Kahawatte Plantations to construct 25 houses in Nawalapitiya

Lanka Financial Services for Underserved Settlements (LFSUS) is an Organization that facilitates the introduction and networking of the informal sector of the country with other Organizations towards making available the domestic capital for housing needs. The LFSUS in partnership with Hatton National Bank and Kahawatte Plantations (PLC), along with the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), has arranged to facilitate 25 families in the Kataboola Estate in Nawalapitiya with financial capital amounting up to Rs 10,500,000.00 towards alleviating the housing needs and the upgrading of the living conditions of the estate workers.

This is a pilot initiative carried out by LFSUS in the estate sector with the expectation that more plantation community self help housing projects will be undertaken.

HNB Managing Director and CEO Rajendra Theagarajah handing over the cheque to Kahawatte Plantations PLC. Director and CEO Roshan Rajadurai, LFSUS Chairman and HNB Marketing and Retail Banking Deputy General Manager Chandula Abeywickrama and LFSUS CEO Ayanthi Gurusinghe are also in the picture.

Kataboola estate is managed by Kahawatte Plantations PLC (KWPL), one of the 20 Regional Plantation Companies whose principals are the world renowned "Dilmah" Tea Brand.

KWPL is renowned both locally and internationally for the high quality of their products and they manage estates both in the Nawalapitiya and Ratnapura regions.

Kataboola Estate has 428 hectares of tea and provides a livelihood for over 9,000 people resident in the plantation. KWPL has carried out this housing initiative in the hope of uplifting the Quality of Life of its plantation community workers and with the upgrading of the living conditions and housing needs of the people, they expect a sustainable and a holistic development for their employees.

The total project cost involves LKR 10,500,000.00 which was financed by Hatton National Bank PLC for a period of 10 years under the LFSUS Guarantee Scheme.

The project aims to focus construction of new houses for the workers with basic facilities such as water, electricity and proper drainage systems.

The launching ceremony of the project was held at Kataboola Estate in Nawalapitiya on August 26 where a cheque of Rs 10,500,000.00 was handed over by Hatton National Bank Managing Director and CEO Rajendra Theagarajah, Kahawatte Plantations PLC Director and CEO Roshan Rajadurai.

Representatives from HNB, LFSUS, KWPL, Kataboola Estate and Dilmah Group were present at the event.

Speaking at the event Lanka Financial Services for Underserved Settlements Chairman Chandula Abeywickrema expressed his gratitude towards Kahawatte Plantations PLC for taking the responsibility and bringing in all parties together to support the hardworking less privileged estate workers.

He said LFSUS is happy to be a part of this great endeavour and consider this initiative as an opportunity to cater to a new market segment in the country in its way forward of making low income settlers bankable.

Kahawatte Plantations Director and CEO Roshan Rajadurai said Kahawatte Plantations consider their employees as their greatest strength and keeping them contended and healthy by looking into their basic need is a core responsibility of the organization.

He said he is hopeful that this event will catalyse those willing to upgrade their housing stock to be active participants and contribute towards the overall improvement of the quality of life and living conditions of their communities.

The informal economy of the developing country has proven to be the most dynamic in nature, hence providing financial inter alia and domestic capital to the sector stands as a much needed and a vital necessity for the country in achieving its developmental milestones.

Sri Lanka presently stands at the verge of embarking upon great growths in the financial sector, these initiatives will stand as significant assets in the way of sustainable development.

LFSUS throughout all its efforts have envisaged and thrived to address the informal sector in making them bankable and facilitating domestic capital to be used to spawn in to new avenues through housing finance opening the massive avenues of opportunity, by way of providing a gateway to develop their business and create service.

All these attempts would counterpart towards the national goals and milestones of the country in creating protract development reaching all parts of society.