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S.K.Suppliers awarded SLS, ISO

S.K.Suppliers (Pvt) Limited, established in 1954 by entrepreneur S. Lionel Fernando of Horethuduwa, manufactures various kinds of high quality mattresses to the Sri Lankan and overseas markets.

Though Fernando started his business in bus and lorry body building, and incorporated the first ever Motor Body Builders' Society in Sri Lanka, he did not allow his entrepreneurial skills stop there.

He was constantly on the look out for new enterprises and ways and means of supporting the local economy. Inheriting their father's extraordinary entrepreneurial instincts, Fernando's sons started manufacturing cushions for motor bodies.

From there, it was an easy step to graduate into the manufacture of pillows, mattresses and spring mattresses, all manufactured using local skilled labour.

This resulted in the birth of Lionco, a successful business empire that has become a trusted name, both in Sri Lanka and overseas.

Recently, S.K.Suppliers, the manufacturers of Lionco brand polyurethane foam mattresses, spring mattresses and various products of polyurethane such as sheet cushions and pillows, won three rare quality accolades from the Sri Lanka Standards Institution, the ISO 9001:2008 and the SLS ISO 9001:2008 and the SLS 1335:2008 and the right to use the SLS logo on their products, and the ISO 14001: 2004 from TVE Certification International, Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

The winning of these three world-acclaimed quality accolades, speaks volumes of Lionco's stringent adherence to quality.

Fernando's sons are continuing in their father's foot steps with their latest BOI approved property development project, Suncity Apartments and Suncity Homes.

S.K.Suppliers (Pvt) Limited are having their offices in Rawatawatta, Moratuwa and on Galle Road at Colombo 3.

Their head office is situated at Horetuduwa, Moratuwa and they are having showrooms at Piliyandala, Dehiwala, Thalathuoya, Moratumulla, Dambulla, Panadura, Kaduruwela, Pamankada, Kottawa, Maharagama, Kurunegala and Battaramulla. Other than manufacturing most modern, novel and comfortable sofa sets, their most well-known products are Lionco Eco Friendly Mattresses, Pillow Top Spring Mattresses, Pocket Spring Mattresses, Quilted Mattresses, Bonnell Spring Mattresses and Memory Foam Mattresses. All these products are manufactured at state-of-the-art factories located at Modarawila Industrial Estate.

Winners selected in 'Atlas Ganimu, Thegi Dinamu' promotional draw

The draw to select the winners of the 'Atlas Ganimu, Thegi Dinamu' promotional draw, organized by Atlas, one of the largest stationery manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka to reward their loyal customers, was held recently at the Grand Oriental Hotel Colombo.

To participate in this 'Atlas Ganimu, Thegi Dinamu' promotional draw, held from September 1, 2011 to January 10, 2012, customers had to fill the coupon that is issued with every purchase of Atlas stationery, and over a million coupons were received by the Company.

Twenty five (25) winners who were selected under the first stage of the 'Atlas Ganimu, Thegi Dinamu' draw, held under the supervision of Chamika Asanga, a representative of the Western Province Inland Revenue Department, were awarded Rs.50,000 each and the trade organization where the winner made his or her purchases was awarded a gift voucher worth Rs. 15,000 each.

Another 1000 winners selected in the second stage of the draw were awarded with a parcel of Atlas stationery worth Rs. 500.

The prizes for these winners were awarded by the Chief Operating Officer/Director Marketing K.H.K.Nishantha and the Chief Operating Officer/Director Production Viraj Jayasuriya.

The Chief Operations Officer/Director Marketing Nishantha Hennadige participating in the event said, "As the leading stationery manufacturing company with the highest market share in Sri Lanka, we have a large number of loyal customers in this country who have placed their confidence in us so as to only purchase our products.

Especially school children have a great liking for our products. So, we launched the 'Atlas Ganimu, Thegi Dinamu' draw to reward our loyal customers who buy only Atlas school and office stationery products.

This sales promotion proved to be very successful and we expect to organize many such programmes in the future as well."

The Ceylon Pencil Company is one of the leading manufacturing and marketing companies of school and office stationery in Sri Lanka.

It's retailing brand name 'Atlas' is well known across the country.

Hilton Colombo plans to mark Earth Hour

Hilton Colombo plans to mark Earth Hour 2012 from 8:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 31, 2012 as people and organizations around the world turn off their lights in support of action on global climate change.

Hilton Colombo along with 3,800 hotels that are part of the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands are expected to take part in the event that will mobilize more than one billion people worldwide.

“We are pleased to join this global effort that galvanizes organizations and individuals around the world to symbolically switch off their lights in support of energy conservation, “said Rudolf Tr”stler, General Manager at the Hilton Colombo. “We aim to make Earth Hour meaningful, fun and engaging for our guests while also enriching our guest experience. Hilton Colombo encourages all our guests to join in on the movement.ÓTr”stler added.

Keeping in line with the Earth Hour theme of 60+, Spices, Spoons and the Thorana Lounge will be switching off their lighting for one hour, allowing diners to enjoy their dinner by candle light.Guests can also enjoy the Earth Hour Jazz night at the hotel's exquisite Thorana Lounge and bar with live jazz music - “unplugged” for guests to serenade the night away.

Other activities planned out to observe Earth Hour would include the lighting candles along with organic cupcakes in the shape of the Earth Hour 60 + sign which will illuminate the lobby.

All guests are invited at 8.30pm on the 31st of March to indulge in an intricately designed organic cupcake display in the 60+ logo.

All monies collected as donations for the sale of the organic cup cakes will be used towards a tree planting initiative by the Hilton Colombo in the following month keeping to the symbolic gesture of going beyond the hour.

The hotel will also observe Earth Hour by switching off all non-essential lights including laundry machines, boilers, swimming pool pumps, the pond, the tennis court lights, concessionaire shop lights, and building lights.

Moreover the hotel will shut down one elevator and the back corridor lights will be reduced by 50% while all the floor corridors will be kept on emergency lighting for one hour.

The well known Hilton neon logo will also be switched off as a symbolic gesture to further demonstrate the hotel's support to Earth Hour.

Heritance unveils $35 m sapphire-studded cake

Heritance Ahungalla, one of Sri Lanka's Aitken Spence Group's premier hotels, has unveiled a $35 million sapphire studded cake, which the hotel hopes will be a serious contender for the "World's most expensive cake" title this year.

Created by their celebrity Chef Dimuthu Kumarasinghe, the ten-layered "Pirate's Fantasy" comes studded with jewels and different flavours that will symbolise the hotel's beach front property on the coastal fishing village of Ahungalla.

A replica of the "Pirate's Fantasy" cake was unveiled on March 26 to a distinguished audience that included top cricketers from Sri Lanka and the visiting England team.

Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene, former skippers Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan and England's Tim Bresnan, Ravi Bopara and Steven Flinn, were mesmerised as the sugar structure was unveiled atop a brass cannon gun.

"This signature cake, that symbolises the sea, is the first ever for a five-star beach resort, the jewel studded cake will be anyone's fantasy. We are incredibly proud of Chef's achievements," said Refhan Razeen, General Manager, Heritance Ahungalla.

Chef Kumarasinghe, or Chef DK as he is popularly known, is a celebrity in his own right, having won five individual gold medals at the Culinary Olympics in Germany and four golds at the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg "The Pirate's Fantasy, will undoubtedly be his unique masterpiece," enthused Razeen.

Chef DK has packed each cake layer with exotic ingredients like cinnamon, zucchini, purple yam, coconut chips, pistachio, rosemary, almond cookies, white chocolate, coconut meringue, baked cheese, sweet wine berry, pineapple, walnut, pumpkin and lemon. Sri Lankan cricket captain Mahela Jayawardene hailed it as a very innovative cake.

"Its a very unique design and concept. The looks matched the taste, which was an interesting collection of exotic flavours. It compliments the quality product and high standards maintained by Heritance Ahungalla."

Heritance Ahungalla has thrown in a few extras for customers who are tempted to tryout this masterpiece.

"The unbelievably lucky person to be able to purchase this cake, will not only have the pleasure of owning this masterpiece, but will know the feeling of holding the crown jewels in one's hand," added Razeen.

A member of one of Sri Lanka's largest diversified conglomerates, the Aitken Spence PLC, Heritance Ahungalla is part of the Aitken Spence Hotels family. A Geoffrey Bawa designed hotel, Heritance Ahungalla secured the Sri Lanka Tourism award for the best five-star resort recently.

The hotel's culinary team last year won a haul of 145 medals at the 2011 Culinary Arts competition organised by the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka.

CDB's state-of-the-art lab to nurture IT literacy in Welioya school

The students of the Welioya Ethawatunuwewa Vidyalaya in the Anuradhapura district were recently gifted with a much looked forward to IT lab and were connected to the worldwide web by Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) as part of its flagship CSR project - 'CDB Pariganaka Piyasa'.

In consultation with the Ministry of Education, CDB dedicated this Rs. One million state-of-the-art IT lab to the school's present and future generations at a simple ceremony presided over by CDB's Executive Director/Chief Credit Officer Sasindra Munasinghe, senior officials of CDB, Principal N.W. Ramanayake, students, parents and well-wishers in Ethawatunuwewa.

The IT lab accommodates 12 students at a sitting.

The LAN accessed and networked lab is fully equipped with HP branded computers, LCD monitors, printer, scanner, internet facilities and the required furniture.

"The primary reason for this project is to give less-privileged schools in rural areas fast and easy access to information technology. This way we can launch students into a future which is driven by technological innovation", CDB's CCO Sasindra Munasinghe told the students. "We have already connected the students of the Kirindiwela Sangamitta Balika Vidyalaya off Gampaha, Nedigamvila Kanishta Vidyalaya off Thissamaharama and the Navatkuli Maha Vidyalayam off Jaffna.

I'm proud to say they are already reaping the benefits of IT skills. These are pre-requisites for modern day success.

Knowledge and IT skills are the foundation of every individual's personal advancement in the sphere of education and employment. It is therefore an area of expertise which should be available to all students in all parts of Sri Lanka".

Thanking CDB for this donation, Principal of the Ethawatunuwewa Vidyalaya N.W. Ramanayake said that although education today is being driven by technology, his school's children were deprived of these facilities for a long time.

"I proudly say that this gift will undoubtedly help develop IT literacy among our children and thereby help them to respond to challenges confidently. Not only is this a blessing to our school, but also to our entire community. We are deeply grateful to CDB for this initiative and pray that this project goes from strength to strength. This will enable more under privileged communities in our country to benefit from the massive advances made in the field of Information Technology", he added.

Speaking on behalf of the school's 269 student population, 14 year old Haseera Janani said, "Now that CDB has given us an IT lab, my classmates and I have a new and exciting world opened to us.

We're thrilled that we have access to greater information.

This will help us to further improve our understanding of other subjects as well, thereby making a big difference in our education."

As part of its national drive to increase IT literacy, CDB plans to carry out more projects of this nature in other parts of the country. This framework is reinforced by CDB's vision to uplift the living standards of all citizens in Sri Lanka.

Expolanka leads on 'Earth Hour' 2012

Expolanka leads Sri Lanka to join hundreds of millions of people around the world to commemorate 'Earth Hour' this year.

The world's largest voluntary environmental campaign to fight climate change, "Earth Hour" will happen on Saturday 31 from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm when everyone is requested to switch off all non-essential lights as a symbolic act to support this cause. Sri Lanka is part in this global event initiated by WWF with Expolanka becoming the national partner for the 'Earth Hour' event to take place in this country.

Apart from several other initiatives, Expolanka shared the message with thousands of pedestrians and commuters during the morning and evening rush hour on key routes in Colombo.






 

Lassana Flora opens in N'Eliya

Lassana Flora recently opened Sri Lanka's first ever Flower Collection Centre in Nuwara Eliya, thereby further expanding its service offering to its hundreds of suppliers in the upcountry region. It was inaugurated by the Mayor of Nuwara Eliya Mahinda Dodampe Gamage.

Strategically situated at the Nuwara Eliya Economic Centre, this Flower Collection Centre enables both growers and suppliers to bring their flowers to a centrally located point with the least possible expense on transportation. Strict guidelines will be adopted when accepting flowers to ensure that quality standards are met.

The flowers are packed in plastic containers preserving freshness before they are transported in cooler trucks.

"This Centre is undoubtedly a boost to the hundreds of small-growers and suppliers in the Nuwara Eliya district who find both difficult and costly to transport their flowers to distant locations such as Colombo. In the past, about 20% of the flowers received monthly, were discarded due to damage in transportation.

We are now in an enviable position of collecting thousands of flowers with speed and convenience and thereby preserving their freshness and quality in the process. With the launch of this Centre we have also been able to reduce damage to flowers during transportation to almost 05%, in addition to giving our clients best quality flowers and floral arrangements, said Lassana Flora's Chairman / Managing Director Dr. Lasantha Malavige.

"This Centre will also function as our main CSR project.

"Through this we will share our knowledge and expertise with suppliers on how to fine tune and further improve their growing skills and get the best possible produce. Newcomers on the other hand will be able to obtain advice and guidance on how to venture into the growing of flowers as a successful commercial business.

"Through this Centre we also want to encourage a greater number of small-time suppliers to commence growing flowers in their backyards. Given the salubrious and conducive climate, Nuwara Eliya and its surrounding areas have hundreds of such people. Given the proper guidance they can soon become successful entrepreneurs and thus earn an additional income", Dr, Malavige added.

Leo Burnett concludes annual review

Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. (LBSI) the Sri Lankan office of the internationally acclaimed advertising agency network Leo Burnett Worldwide, recently concluded the sixth edition of the Agency's Annual Review.

As one of the most awarded integrated creative agencies, the company believes in engaging its team to inspire them to meet the challenges of the year and to fulfil its commitments to the agency's impressive client roster. Leo Burnett, a HumanKind communications company continues to move forward with the company's philosophy of putting a brand's purpose at the center of communications to truly connect with people.