FCCISL Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 launched

Entrepreneur of the year 2013, 18th Annual Awards Ceremony is scheduled to be held in the first half of November and applications should be submitted within 45 days effective May 28, said Nalin Attygalle, Secretary General Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka at a press briefing held to announce the launch of the event. A new segment of awards was introduced last year, Emerging Small Women Entrepreneur in North and East and Differently Abled Entrepreneur.

These newly introduced special awards are themed respectively and will be going national this year, "Encouraging Women in Sri Lanka to realize their Entrepreneurial Potential" and "Beyond Barriers to achieve Entrepreneurship".

The Emerging Small Women Entrepreneur is (all Island) intends to recognize small women entrepreneurs to create a movement that promotes women's entrepreneurship and makes people aware of the incredible and impressive contribution made by women for economic development of all the provinces in Sri Lanka. The Differently Abled Entrepreneur is a premeditated category of the Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year with a view to recognize highly motivated entrepreneurs who achieve their set goals by working beyond physical barriers. Last years experience of this category was very impressive.

The Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is recognized as the country's highest national honor to the business community, grandeur and unparalleled to any other national awards scheme.

This annual award scheme is designed especially to distinguish, reward and motivate Sri Lanka's very own entrepreneurs to reach the pinnacle of achievement whilst contributing towards the national economy.

The event is organized in association with FCCISL's 57 member chambers and associations as a tribute to the country's outstanding entrepreneurs both at provincial and national level.

The awards ceremony was primarily launched based on a concept of former FCCISL President, Patrick Amarasinghe. The contestant enterprises have been grouped into four categories. Small for investments greater than Rs 1 up to 2 million and Medium for investments of more than Rs 2 million up to 20 million, Large for investments between Rs 20-50 million and the Extra Large category for investments of over Rs 50 million. The Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and the Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards are intended to motivate and recognize the strength of women and young entrepreneurship and its contribution to the country's economy while providing gainful employment. The event has earned its own credibility for its independent processes of judging by professionals and experts, representing diverse disciplines nominated from state and private sector institutions of the country covering different aspects of the programme.

Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year is staged at two levels, provincial and national. Provincial awards will comprise 9 Gold awards for the nine provinces, 36 Silver awards comprising 4 awards each for the 9 provinces in the Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large categories.

Similarly there will be 2 Bronze awards each in the 4 categories and therefore a total of 72 for 9 provinces with a total number of 117 provincial awards.

Of the national awards, there will be an overall Platinum award winner followed by 4 Gold awards, 8 silver awards and 12 Bronze awards in the Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large categories with a total of 25 awards. Each Special award category will carry 3 awards per each province as winner, 1st runner up and 2nd runner up and fi8ve merit certificates at the provincial level.

National level, winner, 1st Runners up, 2nd runner up and 5 certificates will be awarded based on the total marks obtained.

Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Application Forms will be available at the FCCISL Secretariat located at No 53, Vauxhall Lane, Colombo 2 and Regional and District member Chambers of FCCISL located in island-wide.

Forms could also be downloaded from www.entrepreneur.fccisl.lk website.

Interested applicants may rec h Event Co-ordinator. Puwanes Waran on 011 23042 53/4 or [email protected].

MFJ