Sri Lanka Business News | Online edition of Daily News

Triad Sri Lanka won the Silver and Merit awards at the recently concluded Sumathi Tele Awards 2011, for their SLI Motor ‘Insured for Reality’ TV commercial and Sri Lanka Army ‘Bravehearts’ TV commercial respectively. This win in “The Best TV Ad of the Year category” is the fourth accolade in a row for the agency, which has successfully won awards at the previous years’ shows also.

Speaking about the win, the team at the agency said, “Triad has always been a firm believer of strategically focused, effective creative ideas with strong insights, which has to-date helped us to differentiate the brands we handle from competition. This win only adds to our strong and long-standing reputation and reconfirms our creative supremacy in the industry.”

The Silver award won for Sri Lanka Insurance is a reflection of bringing to life a creative idea in the most impactful and arresting manner, which a prospective customer would empathize with. This award showcases the agency’s prowess in creating communication that is both memorable and meaningful. Winning a Merit award for a CSR campaign undertaken by TriadAID, to collect funds to build ‘Abhimansala’ - a residential facility to care for permanently disabled soldiers gives new meaning to the Triad Team and the tireless effort the company makes to contribute its professional resources to the betterment of the society and to support the Sri Lankan Forces, who fought valiantly to save our motherland.

Singer Finance in Ampara

Singer Finance (Lanka) PLC ceremonially opened its latest branch in Ampara recently.

Backed by the strength of the Singer (Sri Lanka) Group, one of the country’s most renowned, customer-friendly conglomerates and the ‘Brand of the Year’ for the past 6 years, Singer Finance will leverage its parent company’s 160 years of trusted excellence to help Sri Lankans to achieve their dreams.

Singer Finance is registered by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and has been given a BBB+ Fitch rating. Winning customers’ hearts for its superior service standards, Singer Finance has gone beyond traditional financing facilities, such as vehicle leasing and hire purchase, to cater to the finance requirements of farmers and other members of the business community.

It offers financing facilities for agricultural equipment while also helping customers meet working capital requirements.

The company also offers attractive rates for fixed deposits while maintaining an unrivalled record of public trust.

Committed to making life easier for its fellow Sri Lankans, Singer Finance provides consumer financing for electronic appliances and other products available at Singer Mega, Singer Plus, Singer Homes, and Sisil World retail outlets. Singer Finance has the industry’s de-facto standard online real-time repayment channel, giving customers the freedom to pay monthly rentals at any Singer Plus, Sisil World, Singer Mega, and Singer Homes showroom islandwide, as well as through the company’s own fully-fledged branches in Union Place, Kurunegala, Wattala, Wennappuwa, Anuradhapura, Kandy, and Matara.

Singer launches All In One PCs

Singer Sri Lanka introduced All In One PCs for Sri Lankan customers with added features at an affordable price.

Singer Marketing Director Nasser Majeed said, the All In One computers are truly “Green” PCs. It represents the coming together of solutions to two issues that are of concern to every business: cutting power consumption costs and making optimum use of available space. The computer covers both these points and contributes to organizations efforts in reducing their carbon footprint.

The LED 18.5 inches computer can be used in different purposes of the customers such as home computer experiences, enjoy a whole section of entertainment including You Tube, games, movies, television and others.

The All In One PC contains a whole set of features and benefits that allow ease of access and use to the PC users. These computers are available in two models, SIN-AH61 and SIN-A525. These special PCs are helping to ensure the unique power saving technology that consumes about 60 percent less power that conventional monitors.

Microsoft Sri Lanka OEM Director Poojitha Rajapakse said at the launching of Singer All In One PC that he is confident about the proffered solution for homes and businesses across the country.

The SIN-AH61 will be available with 2GB Ram (upgradeable to 8GB), a 500GB hard disk, DVD rewriter, a built-in 1.3 mega pixel webcam, USB 2.0 ports, 4-in - 1 card reader and HDMI interface. The SIN-D525 will be available with 1GB Ram (upgradeable to 4GB). The model comes with 320GB hard disk, a DVD reader, a built in 1.3 mega pixel webcam, USB2.0 ports and 4-in-1 card reader.

LOLC Factors supports northern Micro, SME community

LOLC Group Managing Director and CEO Kapila Jayawardena handing over the initial Gold Cheque Finance transaction to Mr. and Mrs. T. Thivakaran from Jaffna. LOLC Factors Limited Chief Executive Officer Graham Lawrence. LOLC Factors Limited Strategic Accounts Chief Manager Shama Selvaratnam and LOLC Factors Limited Client Management Officer Rukshan Edward look on.

Reiterating its innovative spirit, LOLC Factors Ltd (LOFAC) introduced Gold Cheque Financing focusing mainly on supporting the rising Micro and SME sector in the northern region. This is an efficient means of providing working capital against gold items, providing a feasible option for entrepreneurs who lack property or vehicles as collateral. The high demand for client cheque facilities provided by the company on previous occasions saw the birth of this new facility which is intended on creating greater accessibility to rising SMEs of this region.

LOLC Group Managing Director and CEO Kapila Jayawardena said, "The northern region is highly sought after for business development initiatives and much is expected from this region to contribute towards the overall economic development of the country. Also, more and more people from this region are gradually but surely finding their own foothold in the Micro and SME sector. Therefore, much needs to be done from the financial services sector to assist them to achieve their dreams."

LOLC Factors on previous occasions introduced working capital and factoring solutions to the people of Jaffna which received an enormous response. Jayawardena said, "By offering new financial solutions to an expanding business community in the north, we were able to attract a strong client base. With the opening up of the economy in this region, the demand for our flexible and tailor-made financial solutions saw an exponential growth. Northern clients who have been utilizing our products since late last year have shown strong credit and repayment values. We were able to understand their financial requirements and provide solutions that best address them. Introducing the Gold Cheque Financing was fulfilling one such requirement."

The ever widening footprint of the Group has added a further boost to the company in reaching the regional Micro and SME clientele.

CICRA accredited for CISI qualifications

The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) - the premier global institute that qualifies professionals in securities and investment - has accredited CICRA Institute of Education, Sri Lanka as an accredited training provider.

The CISI is the largest and most widely respected professional body for those who work in the securities and investment industry in the UK and in a growing number of major financial centres round the world.

Evolved from the London Stock Exchange, CISI now have more than 40,000 members in 89 countries. In the past year, CISI set almost 40,000 examinations in over 70 countries, covering a range of vocational qualifications.

CICRA is now accredited to run training leading to chartered qualifications in Wealth Management, Islamic Finance, Risk in Financial Services and Investment Operations.

"We are delighted to hear that the CISI, UK has selected CICRA as an accredited training provider. Now, Sri Lankan professionals will have regular opportunities to follow training leading to CISI qualifications," CICRA Director and CEO Boshan Dayaratne said.

"CISI qualifications provide a clear career path for professionals as well as school leavers in Securities and Investment fields from entry level to master's level," he said.

The International Certificate in Wealth Management meets the needs of those firms who want to ensure that their staff is able to provide high-quality advice. The qualification will ensure that wealth managers and advisers understand the range of assets and investment products that are available in the market. It will equip them to provide financial advice and find appropriate solutions to meet the investment, retirement, protection and estate and tax planning needs of their clients.

Risk in Financial Services qualification has been developed to provide candidates with a broad understanding of the key risks that arise within the financial services industry. It is particularly aimed at risk teams, compliance teams, branch management, corporate lawyers, finance officers, senior managers of all disciplines and existing and aspiring non-executive directors.

NDB Bank extends services to Gampola

NDB Bank Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya opens the new NDB branch at Gampola. Picture shows Branch Manager Kasun de Silva, Vice President SME Raj Aboobucker and Retail Banking, Chief Operating Officer Indrajit Wickramasinghe and Regional Manager Ajith Beminiwatte.

NDB Bank recently opened its newest branch in Gampola, in a bid to extend their service to all parts of the country. The branch was opened by NDB Bank Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya. With the opening of the Gampola branch, NDB Bank increases its network to 56.

An important hub that links many cities in the central province, Gampola is a town blessed with rich heritage and diversity. While it comprises of rare biodiversity, it is also famous for its vast tea-plantations.

The rapidly developing town also assists in drawing foreign exchange to the country through its spice groves such as nutmeg, mace, clove and cardamom, which come under the minor export category.

With its expertise and knowledge in SME financing services, the Bank will offer many financing facilities including short- term working capital loans, supplier and distributor financing and long-term funding, which will be beneficial to the businesses in the area.

ATC companies launches SRA

The ATC group of companies in Sri Lanka, is involved in shipping and logistics; trading; marketing of IT products; courier service; import of provisions and spices; export of Sri Lankan produce, minerals and other non-traditional products; actively involved in Government Tenders. It is also engaged in supply of fertilizer, chemicals and other building materials coordinated through their Branches overseas, had a launch of a new power-saving product, produced by Power Knot LLC, USA called "Synthetic Refrigerant Additive - SRA" by the President of the Company Lain Milnes, was held in the presence of a large gathering, attended by top officials of some of the leading Companies at Galadari Hotel recently.

Management and Staff of ATC Group of Companies

Power Knot LLC, USA has also introduced a Disposal Unit called Liquid Food Composter - LFC, that disposes the waste food with minimum cost thus saving money spent on disposal of waste food. This is an ideal response to the vexing problem of waste food in hotels and restaurants.

"As we all know, saving and conserving energy is the main concern of everybody. The need for this is imperative in today's context. We believe the new product - "SRA" introduced by us is the answer!" said, a confident Chairman and Managing Director of ATC Group of companies, Sri Lanka, Dr. A.M. Ismail, who has brought in several foreign investments to Sri Lanka and has now introduced the right thing at the right time in the Power sector, at a time when the attention of the whole world is focused on this Sector!

ATC Lanka had already installed this product at Dine More Restaurant Rajagiriya, as a pilot project and found that the technology has proved successful.