BIZ in Brief

Philippe Richart, new Holcim CEO

Philippe Richart, who was responsible for the Ready Mix Concrete business at Holcim, Vietnam, was appointed CEO of Holcim Lanka on March 1.

"The change of CEO was part of a generational change in the company's leadership," a spokesman said.

Philippe joined Holcim Group Support in 2004 as a Commercial Project Manager for the Aggregates and Construction Materials function, working on aggregates market development and performance improvement in various regions of the Group.

In 2007, he was appointed RMX director for Holcim, Vietnam. Before joining Holcim, Philippe held various positions in construction project management and business development for Lafarge Cement and Metso Minerals in Taiwan, USA, China and France.

CA SL appoints training partners

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) recently appointed Continental Insurance Lanka Limited and Chart Consultants (Pvt) Limited as strategic level training partners.

At a ceremony held recently, the Vice President, Arjuna Herath awarded the strategic level training partner certificate to Head of Finance, Continental Insurance, Shanuka Jayaratne. Chief Executive Officer, CA Sri Lanka, Aruna Alwis, Chairman of the Students Training Development Committee T. Dharmarajah and the committee's alternate chairman Sanjaya Bandara were present.

Herath also awarded the training partner certificate to Director of Chart Consultants, Wasantha Chaminda Rajapakse.

Commercial Credit goes for new FD scheme

Commercial Credit launched a new fixed deposit scheme recently. The scheme offers a range of consumer durables to depositors in lieu of interest.

"The value of the product, or in some cases a combination of products, offered will result in the depositors gaining a return in excess of rates available through other FD products," a spokesman for the company said.

The gifts on offer include video home theatre systems, LED televisions, refrigerators, laptops, furniture, air coolers and digital cameras and extend to over 200 items.

Commercial Credit has partnered with Singer Sri Lanka in this scheme where products will be made available to depositors from over 300 Singer Plus locations islandwide.

Vinseth Ceylon Tea receives ISO certification

Chairman, Vinseth Ceylon Tea, Dhammika Bede Cooray received the ISO 9001-2008, ISO 22000, HACCP and GMP compliance certificates from Business Manager, SGS Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Sumanasiri Batuvita at the client appreciation event at the Hilton, Colombo.

Elephant House introduces new ice cream

Elephant House recently introduced Cookie Cream ice cream.

"This new treat shows signs of becoming a popular ice cream flavour, a spokesman for the company said.

"Having earned its place in the hearts and minds of consumers as one of the premier ice creams available today, Elephant House's popularity among customers is due to its quality.

In the case of Cookie Cream, this quality blend of milk and natural cocoa form a smooth ice cream base. And each spoonful of ice cream is filled with cookie chunks, which add a crunchy texture," he said.

HP launches 'latex ink'

HP's water-based inkjet inks, 'HP Latex Inks' have obtained the 'Sustainable Product Certification' from UL Environment, a business unit of Underwriters Laboratories and Certification under the UL Environmental Standard for Sustainability for Printing Inks.

"The ink that meets a range of stringent criteria related to human health and environmental considerations," a spokesman for the company said. "UL is a safety science company. Its Environment business works to advance global sustainability, environmental health and safety," he said.

NDBIB receives 'Best Investment Bank' award

NDB Investment Bank Limited (NDBIB) has been adjudged as 'Best Investment Bank in Sri Lanka 2013' by Global Banking and Finance Review , a leading online magazine providing informative and independent news within the global financial community.

The NDBIB received two more awards 'Most Innovative Investment Bank in Sri Lanka 2013' and ' Most Innovative Asset Backed Securitisation in Sri Lanka 2013'.

“The awards follow NDBIB's achievement in 2012 when it became one of the first investment banks in Sri Lanka to receive an international accolade for excellence by being adjudged as the ‘Best Investment Bank in Sri Lanka’ at the Awards for Excellence 2012 by Euromoney , the world's premier financial markets magazine,” a spokesman for the bank said. CEO of NDB Capita Holdings PLC, the parent company of NDBIB, Vajira Kulatilaka said, "We are extremely proud to have been selected for three prestigious awards by Global Banking and Finance Review.

IBM introduces smarter software

IBM has introduced smarter software solutions designed to transform, grow and make Sri Lankan enterprises more competitive.

Tailored to meet local market needs through IBM business partners, IBM solutions on Big Data, Social Business, Business Analytics, Security and Smarter Commerce can help improve economics and business performance of clients in Sri Lanka.

eCyberSec breaks new ground

A pioneer in application security platforms, eCybersec, has tied up with many leading private and public sector companies in the light of rising threats posed by increasing cyber crime.

Cyber attacks on government institutions and organisations recently and gained access to confidential data worth millions of dollars threatening the safety of countries. Consequently, the importance of securing a website or computer system or any digital infrastructure has become of vital importance due to high vulnerability to attacks, risking brand image and company reputation.

WSO2 launches subsidiary

WSO2Mobile, created in partnership with Harsha Purasinghe, will serve as founder and CEO of the WSO2 subsidiary.

Harsha is the founder of Microimage and Microimage Mobile Media, and a successful entrepreneur with two decades of technology and management experience in enterprise software architecture and mobile technologies.

Under Harsha's leadership, Microimage Mobile Media has gained wide recognition, including the GSM Asia Mobile Innovation Award in 2006 and a commendation at the GSM World Awards in Barcelona, Spain in 2007.

DFCC helps improve 100 rural schools

DFCC has helped improve 100 needy schools in the country under its Corporate Social Responsibility project 'Towards an Exemplary Society'. The project benefited around 50,000 children between six and 10 years.The Bank together with its retail banking subsidiary Vardhana Bank, had worked on the project since 2010 under the guidance of the Ministry of Education.

The project aims at improving the lives of children by transforming their schools especially in rural areas in Sri Lanka.The Bank conducted seminars, workshops related to positive thinking, change management, leadership development, teamwork and creative thinking exercises with experts in the fields. The well-known '5S' guru, Lal Fonseka was enlisted to lead the program. "DFCC has given a renewed sense of direction to 100 schools across the country including those in the North and the East," a spokesman for the bank said.