NDB principal sponsor of APEA
Provides platform for local entrepreneurs to be
recognized globally:
Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards (APEA) - Asia's most prestigious
awards for entrepreneurs was held for the first time in Sri Lanka at a
gala event at Hilton Colombo recently. The event was organized by
Enterprise Asia, in Association with Sri Lanka Malaysia Business Council
(SLMBC) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
APEA is a regional recognition programme for outstanding
entrepreneurs across Asia and a platform for business leaders and
leading entrepreneurs in the region to network, share intelligence and
form lifetime acquaintances.
Twenty Three nominees in the field of tea, rubber, metal, jewellery,
motor, electric, financial services, petroleum; ICT etc were honoured
for their enterprising spirit in their respective fields.
Out of the twenty-three winners, a vast majority were customers of
NDB - the Principal Sponsor of the APEA Awards 2012.
S.H.D. Mahendra Subasinghe, Proprietor Pathma Motor Stores
and Prabath Fonseka, Managing Director Agro Nutrition Pvt
Ltd receiving their the awards. |
The awards were under four categories - Special Achievement Awards ,
Outstanding Entrepreneurship Awards, Most Promising Entrepreneurship
Awards and Emerging Entrepreneurship Awards.
Under the Special Achievement Awards Category, W.K.H Wegapitiya,
Chairman of Laugfs Holdings Limited won the award for Entrepreneur of
the Year, Ramya Weerakoon, Managing Director of Ramya Holdings (Pvt) Ltd
won the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, Ishara Nanayakkara- Deputy
Chairman of Lanka Orix Leasing Company PLC won Young Entrepreneur of the
Year and Jayantha Dharmadasa Chairman of Nawaloka Hospitals won the
Special Achievement Award.
The Outstanding Entrepreneurship Awards went to Ananda Jayasinghe of
Antler Fabric Printers, Momamed Anver Zaki Uddeen of Anverally and Sons,
Murali Prakash from Brown and Company, Kirthi B Kotagama from CIC Agri
Business, Lalith E Liyanage from RTS Holdings, Jayantha Karunaratne from
Imperial Teas Group, Kushan Kodituwakku from Orange Electric and
Saheedul Hijry Mohamed Rishan from PC House.
The Most Promising Entrepreneurship Awards went to Prabath Fonseka of
Agro Nutrition, M.S.M Najeeb of Aroma Nutral Rubber, Chandrananda
Diyunuge of Electro Metal Pressings, Gregory Edward Fernando of
Greenkeepers, M.A.J.P Fernando from JP Marine, Nimal Gatamanna from
Nithyakala Jewellery, B.H Prasantha Kularatna from Premium
International, Shehan Seneviratne from SMS Holdings and Gulam Hussain
Mohammed Hafeez from Yaseen's Computerized Graphics.
Dr. Anura Eliyapura of Aminra Collections and S.H.D Mahendra
Subasinghe of Pathma Motor Stores were honoured under the Emerging
Entrepreneurship Award category.
Chairman of NDB Hemaka Amarasuriya and Russell de Mel -
Chief Executive Officer of NDB, Azmi Zainuddin - Malaysian
High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, William Ng - President of
Enterprise Asia, and representatives of the Sri Lanka
Malaysia Business Council and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce
together with the winners of the Asia Pacific
Entrepreneurship Awards 2012. Pictures by Sulochana Gamage |
NDB has been in the forefront of driving economic development for the
past 30 years. As a pioneer in SME financing in Sri Lanka, NDB has
contributed immensely to stimulate the growth of these sectors.
Over the past three decades the Bank has not only financially
supported such ventures island-wide, but also provided advisory services
both to entrepreneurs as well as lending institutions.
Supporting Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards and coming in as the
Principal Sponsor for the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards
established NDB's commitment towards recognizing Sri Lankan
entrepreneurs and business leaders.
"Over the years NDB has implemented many initiatives to encourage
entrepreneurs to produce the right product, to the right market, using
the appropriate technology.
We also encourage branding and packaging as well. Overtime we've
observed with great admiration, small businesses migrating to medium
scale and some even to large scale." said Russell de Mel, Chief
Executive Officer of NDB Events of this nature encourage entrepreneurs
to strive towards business ethics, product innovation and above all
Business Excellence, the passport to international markets added de Mel.
Enterprise Asia a non-governmental organization for entrepreneurship,
based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is the owner and organizer of Asia
Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards (APEA) since 1997. |