Cargills achieves Excellence in Knowledge Integration at National Business Excellence Awards - 2008

Cargills (Ceylon) PLC bagged two prestigious awards at the recently concluded National Business Excellence Awards 2008 organized by the National Chamber of Commerce. The company was adjudged the winner for `Best Knowledge Integration' and also clinched the 'Trading' category award.

Dr. Sunil Nawarathna the Director of Human Capital Development notes that the company has consistently focused on innovation and knowledge integration as a thrust area in achieving success. "Cargills is a business that looks beyond conventional business wisdom. Our thinking has evolved to meet our goals of creating social value and we need to innovate and consistently absorb new knowledge and technology to create value at every level of our business," he said. Cargills has established its own Business Intelligence Unit as well as Training and Capacity Building entities to complement the overall focus on innovation and knowledge integration.

A key area that Cargills concentrates on is rural youth development which aims to harness the energies of young people towards building a new generation of professionals in the Food and Agribusiness sector.

"Today Sri Lanka depends on the foreign exchange sent home by young men and women who work as unskilled workers in the Middle East and other countries. As a company we therefore focus on developing the skills of rural youth through the Albert A. Page Institute of Food Business which we established as a non profit venture," Dr Nawarathna said. Since its inception in 2007, The Albert A. Page Institute has trained more than 3,000 young people every year gearing them with internationally accredited training.