Grooming them to lead
It was a rare opportunity for these 26 youth to have been able to
undergo training at the newly formed Aitken Spence School of
Hospitality, which is now geared to train more personnel with a view of
absorbing them into the hospitality trade, which is at present suffering
from a dearth of trained staff.
by Prasad Abu Bakr
It all probably started with the groups executive brigade wondering
with what to do with the Tsunami damaged kitchen of the Pearl Beach
Hotel, which came under the flagship of the group.
So it became the responsibility of Samantha Gunaratne who joined the
adjoining Neptune Hotel to come up
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This years group of trainees |
with re-furbishing ideas under the
directions of Malin Hapugoda, Managing Director Aitken Spence Hotel
Management who initiated the idea of creating the School of Hospitality
in view of training youth to fill in the vast number of positions that
has fallen vacant not only at groups chain but overall within the
hospitality industry in the country.
Initial sightings to hire decorators for the job was overlooked owing
to the high rates that were demanded for the job. Eventually Gunaratne
single handedly took the challenge of handling of the job with the
un-stinted support of his maintenance crew and the housekeeping division
of Neptune Hotel.
So it was a matter of time that the entire project became a reality
and there were 26 students, all rural youth of which 7 were children of
present employees of the Neptune Hotel.
The school which opened in July this year as a Corporate Social
Responsibility project operates absolutely free of charge, catering to
the young people of the area. It specialises in training students in the
Food and beverage sector which the hotel industry in Sri Lanka is
greatly lacking as almost all personnel employed in this sector are
leaving for jobs in the hotel industry overseas.
Even many of the students who are graduating at the Ceylon Hotel
School it is understood takes off abroad
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Ravindra Kasun the overall winner of the Best Student receiving
his trophy from Malin Hapugoda, Managing Director of Aitken
Spence Hotel Management. |
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Staff of Neptune Hotel performing at the passing out event held
recently. |
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Some of the female staff of the hotel awaiting their turn to
perform. |
after a short span of working
period within the local trade merely to obtain experience certificates.
Students who are trained at the Aitken Spence School of Hospitality
is necessarily called upon to serve the group for a substantial period
of time during which they can get extensive training under some of the
most experienced hoteliers in Sri Lanka.
Even during the initial period at the school most of them are briefed
by leading names as Susantha Gunawardena who was the lecturer in charge
of the entire course.
Maurice Liyanage, the groups former training manager of the Front
Office sector also attended sessions while a major role was played by
Amal Nanayakkara who is Deputy Manager Training at Aitken Spence group.
During this period students were given the opportunity to work with
Waters Edge Golf Club where they were paid for their services. Many
personnel of Neptune Hotel too contributed largely towards grooming
these youngster to steer ahead.
Food and Beverage Manager Shanti Kumar Crusze, Executive Chef Chatura
Wimalasuriya, Executive Housekeeper Janaka Liyanage together with the
Environmentalist for the group Ravi De Silva attended sessions to brief
students in those many related fields.
After this extensive three month classroom training the students will
join Browns Beach Negombo and The Heritance Ahungalle for a further 9
months which will be their initial stage of employment following which
this batch will be absorbed into the network of hotels under the Aitken
Spence Hotel Management for a period of 1 year.
Thereafter they will be free to pursue careers out side the country,
General Manager of The Neptune Hotel Samantha Gunaratne further stated.
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