Biz in Brief

The NDB Talent Hunt was held at the recently opened Mihilaka Medura at the BMICH and offered participants an opportunity to begin a career in banking.

The recruitment drive attracted over 700 participants, mostly from the city and the suburbs, who fulfilled the minimum entry requirements.

Most of them were below the age of twenty and had completed their GCE Advanced Level examination.

The Talent Hunt gave participants a glimpse of NDB’s corporate portrait while providing first-hand exposure to the bank’s culture and working environment.

Paycorp signs agreement with BOI

An agreement was signed between the Board of Investment (BOI) and Paycorp Payment Solutions, a provider of enterprise payment processing solutions for financial institutions, corporate and industry specific vertical markets, to operate a Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) entity in Sri Lanka under the name of Paycorp International.

The new KPO which needs high domain knowledge and complex processes has cited Sri Lankan culture and qualified talent pool as major factors that make the country best suited for the next generation global KPO processes.

LG introduces modern air conditioner

“The LG Inverter V air conditioner consumes less energy. LG through its innovative inverter technology has developed a compressor to run at low speeds while at the same time cooling efficiently to provide the room temperature for comfort and saving in energy consumption,” a spokesman for the company said.

“The LG Inverter V air conditioners in stock are equipped with innovative germ-fighting filters. The new arrivals will have LG’s latest technology 'Plasmaster' which has an enhanced air purification system," he said.

Samaposha wins Gold Award

The Annual Central Province Star Awards Ceremony organised by the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Development of the Central Province to recognise the best performing entrepreneurs and enterprises of the Province was held recently.

Plenty Foods (Pvt) Ltd factory in Kandy which manufactures Samaposha won the 3-star gold award in the large scale manufacturing sector category.

Here the Director and CEO of Plenty Foods, Shammi Karunaratne, receives the award from Central Province Governor Tikiri Kobbekaduwa. Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake looks on.

'Mobile media, most popular media'

The mobile media is the seventh and most sought after mass media (next to the earlier six; print, recordings, cinema, radio, television and internet), and is capable of reaching people around the world. “With the growing use of mobile devices, organisations should see this as an opportunity and a channel of communication with customers,” a spokesman for Negete said.Based on Cisco’s Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update,

The average smartphone usage grew 81 percent in 2012 and although smartphones represented only 18 percent of total global handsets in use in 2012, it represented 92 percent of total global handset traffic.

According to Negete’s Managing Director and CEO Brian Walter, “Mobile is the only form of media that is capable of doing everything that the other six can.”

LB Finance launches Avurudu promotion

LB Finance's Avurudu promotion offers a range of consumer products for fixed deposits.

New fixed deposits during the festive season will receive valuable gifts along with attractive interest rates.

“What makes the Avurudu promotion unique and exciting is we haven't compromised on the interest rates to give gifts,” said Assistant General Manager, LB Finance, Roshan Jayawardena. “In fact, we are offering the best interest rates possible while giving our customers exciting gifts.

“There is something for everyone in the family and with the kind of investment you make you determine what you take home. It's simple. The bigger you invest, the bigger the gift,” he said.

“The islandwide branch network of the company is now geared to handle the rush expected to be generated by the promotion which will serve as an incentive for people to save more,” a spokesman for the company said.

The company recorded a turnover of Rs. 8 billion last year. Its Non-Performing Loan Ratio was two percent. LB Finance has 125 service stations islandwide and 40,000 customers.

Dwelling Group markets Australian properties

Dwelling Property Group, a Melbourne-based property development and marketing company launched operations in Sri Lanka last week.

A director of the company, Navin de Silva said that the company hopes to bring experts on property development from some of Australia's recognised corporations and provide clients an investment platform through property development.

The company will assist local and overseas clients to invest in Australian projects. “We have top quality builders, real estate agents, financial specialists, lawyers and accountants and the Dwelling Group has been recognised in Australia for creating successful business outcomes for investors,” de Silva said.

The company recorded its newest venture in Australia ‘The Fulton Lane’, a Aus $ 470 million project. Fulton Lane is a joint venture between Dwelling Group and the Setia Group of Malaysia. Fulton Lane comprises 786 apartments in two towers and already 70 percent of the apartments have been pre-sold. Dwelling Group hopes to attract investors from Sri Lanka.

Brandix gifts water supply systems

Several schools have received water supply systems and sanitation projects from Brandix under a novel community initiative.

Children aged five to 15 from all parts of Sri Lanka responded to an invitation from Brandix in March last year to pen a 250-word essay on ‘My Water Wish for Sri Lanka’ as part of the company’s efforts to mark World Water Day, which falls on March 22.

The winner in each language was promised a water supply system or sanitation project to the value of Rs 100,000, while 15 merit award winners would receive projects worth Rs 60,000 each.

Union Bank appoints new director

Union Bank of Colombo PLC (UBC) has appointed Imtiaz Musheen as an Independent Non Executive Director to the Bank's Board of Directors from February 19.

Musheen counts over 25 years' experience in Business and Financial Management locally and internationally. He was earlier employed at Ceylon Tobacco Company and British American Tobacco UK.

He has experience in driving Change Management across finance functions and was a member of the British American Tobacco UK's Group Finance Standards Council representing Western Europe.

Niche CC signs MoU with Go Communications

The PR (Public Relations) industry will have a $ 1 billion income by 2014, a PR expert said.

He said that the PR sector currently is a US $ 500 million industry with enormous potential for growth spurred by demand in Asia.

He was speaking at a ceremony to mark the signing of a MoU between Go Communications Group and Niche Corporate Communications (Niche CC) recently.

Niche CC is a PR agency founded by Nayomini Ratnayake Weerasooriya in 1995. It has handled PR for some of Sri Lanka's leading brands and corporates since its inception.

Kassapa Lions Rock among top 25 bargain hotels

Trip adviser has placed Kassapa Lions Rock Hotel as one of the top bargain hotels in Sri Lanka. This listing is ranked by travellers worldwide.

“Guests of the Kassapa Lions Rock have posted many reviews about the hotel location, staff and cuisine and services,” said Chairman of the owning company, Lion Royal Resort (Pvt) Ltd, Nilan Wickramasinghe.

Kassapa Lions Rock, General Manager Nishantha Abeysinghe said, “This is a another feather in our cap and my staff and myself at Kassapa would like to thank all our patrons for their reviews and feedback.

New Country Manager for Ericsson

Ericsson appointed Todd Ashton as President and Country Manager for Malaysia and Sri Lanka recently.

Born in Washington, D.C., Ashton has been based in Sweden since 1998, serving in various executive roles at Ericsson AB.

As Global Head of Sales for Ericsson Consulting and Systems Integration, Ashton focused on working with Ericsson customers worldwide to monetise data by implementing new pricing packages.

Ashton has also worked in leadership roles across several portfolios within Ericsson, including IP backbone networks, OSS, BSS, and IP multimedia software and services.

Donations through eZ Cash

Dialog subscribers can now make donations to the Colours of Courage Trust (COCT), which is raising funds to construct a radiotherapy unit and develop a high dependency paediatric unit in Jaffna, using Dialog's mobile money platform, eZ Cash.

The Trail Project initiated by the Colours of Courage Trust, a non-profit organisation that has since its inception in 2008, dedicated itself to develop infrastructure to support greater access to and quality of cancer treatment in Sri Lanka.

In 2011, the COCT which embarked on a 27-day journey from Devundera, the southernmost point of Sri Lanka to Point Pedro, the northernmost point of the island saw over 30,000 Sri Lankan's join the journey to give hope to those afflicted by cancer. Since its inception Trail has raised over $ 1.6 million for the cause.

Ceylinco Life selects Bloomberg

Ceylinco Life has begun using Bloomberg's fixed income trading platform, FIQ to trade in government securities. FIQ is an electronic trading portal that enables qualified subscribers of the Bloomberg Professional service to execute trades in government and corporate bonds across regional and emerging markets.

Ceylinco Life’s government securities portfolio stood at Rs. 22.6 billion as at December 31, 2012. The company has used the Bloomberg Professional service since 2003 to help manage its policyholders’ fund, and publishes indicative government securities and repos prices at CELI on the Bloomberg Professional service.

“Optimising returns on our policyholders’ fund is clearly of paramount importance to our operations,” said Managing Director and CEO of Ceylinco Life, R Renganathan.

NSB branch at Ridigama

National Savings Bank (NSB) opened a branch at Ridigama recently. Kurunegala District Member of Parliament and Chairman of Ridigama Development Committee, Nimal Wijesinghe was the chief guest.

Chairman, NSB, Sunil S. Sirisena, Working Director Sumanadasa Abeygunawardana, GM and CEO, NSB, H. M. Hennayake Bandara, Senior Deputy General Manager, Dhammika Perera and the higher management of the bank and the Regional Manager, J. M. Seneviratne and invitees were present. “The NSB branch, equipped with modern facilities, is geared to deliver a superior customer service,” a spokesman for the bank said.

BOI hosts CBC delegation

Chairman and Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, Dr Lakshman Jayaweera hosted the Chairman of the Commonwealth Business Council, Dr Mohan Kaul and a delegation of officials from the Commonwealth Secretariat at the BOI head office at the World Trade Centre.

The discussions centered on Sri Lanka hosting the Commonwealth Business Forum, an important business meeting which will take place alongside the CHOGM.

According to Dr Kaul, this event is likely to lead to FDI inflows of as much as $ 2 billion into Sri Lanka in addition to boosting bilateral trade and tourism.

Lanka moves up in tourism index

Sri Lanka has moved up in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2013 published by the World Economic Forum. In 2011, Sri Lanka was ranked at 81 out of 139 countries and this year has moved up to rank 74 out of 140 countries. The TTCI provides a platform to ensure the development of sustainable tourism entities, capable of contributing effectively to international economic development. The assessment is on the extent to which these economies are putting in place, the factors and policies to make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism sector.