Harness youth talents to develop country - MD Cargills

Cargills will expand its supermarket chain to all the districts which will help harness the talents of rural youth, said Managing Director, Cargills Ceylon Ltd, Ranjith Page.

He was addressing a ceremony to mark the tenth Annual Awards of the Young Entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka (YESL) at the BMICH on Tuesday.

H. L. Priyankara Ananda receives the Award from General Manager, ANCL, Abhaya Amaradasa.                                                                    Pic: Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

Page said the youth are an asset to the country and their talents should be made best use of to develop the economy. The capabilities of the country's human capital have not been utilised for development.

"The country needs sincere and committed entrepreneurs who could make a contribution to society. Dynamic and innovative young entreperenerus will be the country's business leaders", he said.

Over the past ten years YESL has been grooming school children to be good entrepreneurs. The program has helped students to develop their entrepreneurial skills and be enterprising in a competitive business world.

President, YESL, Patrick Amarasinghe said the program will be introduced to more schools following a request of the Education Minister.

"Over 9,000 schools provide education to around 5 million children across the country. Many of the students are not exposed to the entrepreneurial world and as a result they cannot face the competition in society and meet the needs of the job market", Amarasinghe said.

He said it is the responsibility of the society to guide the youth for a brighter future. Students who have completed their formal education drift due to lack of proper career guidance. YESL's aim is to guide youth throughout school education to be good entrepreneurs who could contribute to the country.

The YESL presented Merit, Silver and Gold awards to students who had excelled in various spheres in their enterprises throughout the year.

The Most Outstanding Young Entrepreneur of the Year-2008 Daily News Award was presented to H.L. Priyankara Ananda of the Claw-Rich Company of Richmond College, Galle.

The Outstanding Entrepreneur- Girl 2008 Sri Lanka Telecom Award was presented to Rosanjela Dias of Handy Art Company of Kuda Kusum Balika Vidyalaya, Bandarawela and the Outstanding Entrepreneur- Boy Cargills Award was presented to Kushan Pathiraja of Massif Company of St. Joseph's College, Colombo.

A trade afir and exhibition of schools company products were on display.