BIZ-Briefs

Janashakthi recognised at CMO Asia Awards

Janashakthi Insurance PLC won top honours at the second CMO Asia Awards for Excellence in Branding and Marketing with the "Award for Brand Excellence" in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance category. The awards were hosted by the World Brand Congress at Suntec, Singapore. Janashakthi also became the only Sri Lankan insurance company to be recognised in this category at the CMO awards.

Browns introduces latest Olympus digital cameras

Brown and Company PLC introduced the latest Olympus digital cameras with features that caters to professional photographers and beginners who have a passion for photography. The new range is designed to suit individual lifestyles of photography enthusiasts. Browns also markets the Olympus range of binoculars and voice recorders. Browns are the sole agents for Olympus cameras in Sri Lanka.

Nokia E6 launched

Running on the latest Symbian Anna software, Nokia E6 has a new features, faster browsing and enhanced Ovi Maps. The Nokia E6 offers improved performance and good battery life.

'Dimbula Kahata' to refresh Sri Lanka

Chairman and Managing Director, East West Marketing (Private) Limited K. Mathivanan, appointing teledrama actress Kusum Renu as brand ambassador for Dimbula Kahata, tea.

East West Marketing (Private) Limited, which markets a range of premium quality food products under the brand name Turkey, added a new extension to the Turkey brand, under the sub-brand Dimbula Kahata, recently. Dimbula Kahata is a specially blended premium quality black tea.

SLIM session with Tom Moody

A half-a-day interactive session with Tom Moody, former Australian cricketer and coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team, themed "Building a Champion Team", will be held on September 14 at the Kings Court, Cinnamon Lakeside, Colombo, organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM).

myeaglefunds offers opportunities

NDB AVIVA Wealth Management Limited offers retail investors the opportunity to enjoy advantages of preferential allocations in many IPOs yet to be offered in the local market through the special 10 percent allocation granted to Unit Trusts by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka.

The Eagle Growth Fund and Eagle Growth and Income Fund managed by NDB AVIVA Wealth Management are currently the only qualifying funds in Sri Lanka to take advantage of this exclusive prospect.

Abans launch 24-hour islandwide emergency service

Abans, have initiated a 24-hour on-call emergency service islandwide.

Abans Service Department, with over 100 service centres in major towns and cities around the country has been handling all aspects of service, maintenance and repairs of products sold by Abans showrooms islandwide.

The Centres are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for precision repairs of electronic equipment and manned by factory trained and qualified technicians and engineers.

Munchee donates well

Following a request by the Army Munchee constructed a drinking well, under the Munchee Samaga Gamata Sarana program, for the benefit of villagers Mathagal in Jaffna. Villagers face hardship due to lack of potable water. Here Assistant General Manager, Sales of Ceylon Biscuits Ltd Sirilal Wijesekera with Brigade Commander of 515 Brigade of the Sri Lanka Army Brigadier Buwaneka Randeniya, are seen. This program is the latest CSR initiative of Ceylon Biscuits.

The 15th L.S. de Silva Memorial Lecture

The 15th L.S. De Silva Memorial Lecture, will be delivered by the Chairman, Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission Professor Dayantha S. Wijeyesekera on “Meeting the Challenges of Knowledge Transfer in the Transport Sector.”. It will be held on September 14, at 5.30 p.m. at the auditorium of The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7. It is organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport, Sri Lanka (CILTSL).

Mr L.S. de Silva was the first Chairman of CILTSL established in 1984. He also served as the President of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) in 1982. He worked at the Sri Lanka Railways for over 28 years, before he retired in 1975, as the General Manager (Technical). During his tenure in the Railways he was known to be one of the most capable civil engineers who successfully implemented many projects for the development of the Railway Department and to provide efficient service to rail commuters.

Mobitel gold winner at CNCI

At the recently concluded CNCI Achiever Awards 2011 ceremony, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel won the Gold for National Level - Industrial and Service Excellence in the Extra Large category and the CNCI Top Ten Award for Industrial and Service Excellence in the Extra Large category, becoming the only mobile service provider to be awarded, organised by the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries.

Preethi Jayawardena – Deputy Chairman, Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI), Ajith Nivard Cabraal – Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Sunil Liyanage – Chairman, Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) and Nishantha Weerakoon – Senior General Manager Finance, Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd .

Seylan Customers off to Bangkok Dream World

Customers pose for a photograph at the Bandaranaike International Airport, prior to departure.

The 125 lucky customers of Seylan Tikiri Plus and Seylan Sure left on September 2, to Bangkok on the ‘Dream World Tour’.

The 3 days 2 nights fully sponsored tour package includes a dinner cruise, an exciting day at the Bangkok Dream World and a city tour.

HelpAge Sri Lanka wins Award

Chairman HelpAage Sri Lanka Deshabandu Thilak de Zoysa, receiving the award from Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal.Chairman Smart Media Co.Dr Vijith Kannangaraand Ananda Jagoda of Smart Media Co. are also in the picture.

HelpAge Sri Lanka Annual Report for 2010 has won the Silver Award in the Non Profits Category at the prestigious Global Awards for Annual Reports.

The League of American Communications Professionals Vision Awards (LACP) is one of the top two global awards schemes for annual reports.

This year the LACP awards attracted a record 5000 entries from around the world.

JKH and Sanken to build 240 room business hotel

Sanken Lanka (Pvt) Limited and John Keells Holdings, signed a joint venture to invest Rs. 2.90b to build a 25-storey, 240 room Business Hotel in Colombo.

Sanken Lanka (Pvt) Limited will be the major shareholder and the main contractor for the project which will be on a Design and Build basis with Design Team 3 of Singapore being the project Architects under the joint venture.

Keells Hotel Management Services Limited will be the hotel operator who will take over the management once the project is completed.

COMBank supports national development with IFA loan

Commercial Bank of Ceylon the first bank in Sri Lanka to support national development initiatives with concessionary long-term lending from its Investment Fund Account (IFA) set up in accordance with a proposal by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2011 Budget.

The Bank will provide a Rs 1.5 b loan to the Road Development Authority (RDA) payable over 14.5 years, in the first ever disbursement from the IFA scheme proposed in the Budget of November last year.

The funds will be used in a two-and-a-half year project to rehabilitate/improve a 21.5 km stretch of the A6 highway between Dambulla and Habarana, under the government’s infrastructure development program, the Bank said. International Construction Consortium (Pvt) Ltd (ICC), is the designated contractor who is also a key client of the Bank.

Shaw Wallace Ceylon, McLarens Holdings in joint venture

Shaw Wallace Ceylon Ltd., (subsidiary of Renuka Holdings PLC) and McLarens Holdings Ltd signed a joint venture agreement to form McShaw Automotive Ltd to create an islandwide automotive distribution channel.

McShaw Automotive Ltd, aims at being the acknowledged market leader in the automotive sector in Sri Lanka through global partnerships, innovation and technology while growing organically and by acquisition.

The company will focus on its business sectors from joint venture partners which include distribution of lubricants, car care products, tyres and tubes, batteries, auto parts and automobile fleet management.

Ceylon Cinnamon at Anuga Food Fair

The Export Development Board (EDB) will launch the ‘Pure Ceylon Cinnamon Brand’ internationally at the Anuga Food Fair, in Cologne, Germany in October.

The Ceylon Cinnamon belongs to the family Lauraceae and it contains about 250 species and sub species. ‘Ceylon Cinnamon’ (Cinamomum Zeylanicum Blume) and Cassia Cinnamon (Cinnamomum Aromaticum) are the more important ones traded in the international market. Cassia originated from different sources such as China, Vietnam, Java, Indonesia and India. ‘Ceylon Cinnamon’ referred to as ‘sweet cinnamon’ and ‘true cinnamon’ is considered superior to the variety known as Cassia.

Munchee wins gold at CNCI Awards

Managing Director Ms Shea wickramasinghe receives the award from Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal. CNCI chairman Sunil Liyanage and Deputy Chairman Preethi Jayawardena are also seen.

Munchee won the gold award in the extra large category manufacturing sector at the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) Achiever Awards of Industrial Excellence 2011.

CNCI Achiever awards is recognised as the highest award for industrial excellence.

The objective of CNCI is promoting industrial growth in the country by recognising entrepreneurs who had excelled in the industry and services sectors.

Being the Gold winner in the extra large category, proves that it is a business entity which operates as a local giant.

This is a collaborative achievement towards the vision of becoming the best food manufacturer in Asia with a global presence.

SLT expands fibre optic and brand network

SLT CEO Greg Young and Group Director Captal Maharaja Mano Wickremanayaka. Pic by Kavindra Perera.

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) will expand its fibre optic and broadband network this year with high definition television entertainment, said SLT CEO, Greg Young at a ceremony to launch the three MTV channels on PEO TV, Thursday.

He said that the company will make substantial investments on its expansion plan which will enable more viewers to benefit from its superior technology.

“PEO TV has created a paradigm shift in the local television entertainment industry by delivering personalised television experiences with unique features”, Young said.

SLT PEO TV (Personalised Entertainment Option) offers a host of services such as live TV services, time shift TV, rewind TV, video on demand and interactive applications and services.

LB Finance opens 10 branches in one day

LB Finance is continuing its islandwide expansion strategy with the opening of 10 branches islandwide on the same day. The branches are in Wennappuwa, Elpitiya, Kotahena, Sea Street, Matale, Mahiyanganaya, Nelliyadi, Manipay, Kilinochchi and Chavakachcheri.

Managing Director LB Finance, Sumith Adhihetty said “At present we are driving forward with our main strategy which is to aggressively expand our reach within the island, I assure our customers that - whatever their financial circumstances - our primary objective is basically to help them grow.”

LB Finance is leveraging technology to present a range of cutting-edge financial products for all its customers.

Emirates flies daily to Narita

Emirates, will introduce two extra flights a week, to Japan ensuring a daily, non-stop service between Dubai and Narita International Airport from November 1. Emirates has been flying to Narita since launching the route in March last year and will use a Boeing 777-300ER on the route with eight private suites in First Class, 42 seats in Business Class and 304 Economy Class seats for a total of 354 seats; and also 23-tonnes of bellyhold cargo.