Lagodan opens doors for former LTTE cadres
Jobs in Malaysia, Gulf regions:
Shirajiv SIRIMANE
For the first time in Sri Lanka rehabilitated LTTE youth are being
offered foreign employment by Lagodan Pvt Ltd, one of the oldest foreign
employment agencies in Sri Lanka.
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Chairman/MD
Ranjith Perera |
Lagodan Chairman and Managing Director Ranjith Perera said he has
already opened a link in Malaysia and in the Gulf for this purpose.
Speaking to Daily News Business he said these openings will be for
males.
“Our partners are looking for youth to work in factories, Super
markets, dairies and farms,” he said.
He said that while appreciating the good work done by the government
to rehabilitate ex-LTTE cadres and providing them training for self-
employment, he wanted to take these youths to a new level and offer them
foreign employment.
“I have already spoken to Minister Douglas Devananda, Dilan Perera
and other government officials who are helping me in his regard,” he
added.
Perera said they are doing this business as a social service and
making money is not their priority. “We treat this as one of our CRS
projects and help to build the image of the country,” he added.
He said Lagodan last year conducted a series of workshops in several
rural areas to woo candidates for foreign employment at their own
expense.
“We never take a fee for recruits and survive from the commission
offered by the employee,” he said. Saudi Arabia which owns and operates
the largest dairy and Qatar Airways are two of their largest clientele.
He said they are currently negotiating with some Australian and
Korean companies for opening for Sri Lankans.
He said one of the biggest advantages, Sri Lankan skilled workers
have is their skills which is in high demand in the Asian employment
market.
“This is the reason one could see a sharp increase of Sri Lankan
workers to Korea.”
He also expressed disappointment in the manner in which some Sri
Lankan missions overseas operate. “They are not doing enough to woo more
employment opportunities to Sri Lankans,” he said.
At a time when foreign employment was an ‘alien’ word to Sri Lanka,
founder of the company L. A. B. Perera set up Lagodan in 1976.
The Foreign Employment Ministry is looking at categorising foreign
recruitment agencies and is to be named as a five star agency.
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