Lanka can be proud of world-class enterprises -WB Country Director

by Surekha Galagoda

Ms Naoko Iishi presents the gold award to Colombo Dockyard Ltd Chairman Sinichi Talebe and Human Resources Development Manager M.F.M. Najab

President D. Eassuwaren presents the Silver award to Chief Executive Officer, Sri Lanka Insurance Nalaka Godahewa.

Chairman, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel Asoka Weerasinghe De Silva presents the bronze award to AGM (Plant and Technical) Lanka Tiles Patrick Piyasena. Pix by Saliya Rupasinghe

Sri Lanka has taken many steps in the right direction to improve the business climate, but still much needs to be done, said World Bank Country Director Dr. Naoko Iishi, the Chief Guest at the 4th National Business Excellence Awards (NBEA) ceremony organised by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka.

She said among the major challenges faced by the business sector are instability in the macro economy, lack of access to funds, unreliability and high cost of electricity and labour issues, yet the country can be proud of many world-class enterprises.

Iishi said that among the criteria to win an award are CSR and Corporate Governance and these are welcome as the growth has not filtered down to many segments of society though the country is developing.

Therefore carefully structured CSR projects can help halve poverty to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

She said that Sri Lanka as a country has enormous potential. Despite the war the country has recorded 5.5% growth. Compared to other countries with its educated population and strategic location the country is getting globalised quickly and moving towards a middle income country but there are many challenges the country has to face; among them are confrontational politics and the war, mis-management of policies and the welfare state mentality. Despite all these challenges the business sector has shown much resilience, said Iishi.

Chairman, Panel of Judges, Prof. Gunapala Nanayakkara said PIM is the first university to venture overseas. It has set up a branch in the UAE. Initially we expected only 60 applications so that we could break even.But we received 145 applications of which we selected 100 and started. Already an investor is keen to join us to set up a university which shows that knowledge is valued everywhere.

Speaking of the applicants, he said that the interest is increasing every year. Last year we received 70 applications while it increased to 100 this year which shows that people are interested.

President, NCCSL D. Eassuwaren said that competing at a time the going is tough is very commendable as everybody wants to compete when everything is normal. A prime objective of NCCSL is to recognise and appreciate the contribution of business enterprises to the economic progress of our country.

The NBEAs are presented to Sri Lankan business enterprises who achieved excellence in their businesses by sheer commitment and dedication, said Eassuwaren.

The overall winner was Colombo Dockyard Ltd while the runners-up were Lanka Tiles Ltd and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd. In addition 62 awards in the categories of Extra large, large, medium, small and micro were presented while there were awards for sectors and best performance.

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