Biz Briefs

McDonald's Breakfast Day

The National Breakfast Day will be celebrated by the McDonald's chain by giving away free egg-burgers tomorrow.

This family restaurant chain is conducting the program for the third time in Sri Lanka. Over 6,000 McDonald’s outlets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa will each give away 1,000 egg-burgers free to customers during breakfast. In keeping with the program the restaurants in Kollupitiya, Racecourse Complex, Rajagiriya, Kotahena, Nugegoda, Welisara, Battaramulla and Kiribathgoda will distribute nearly ten thousand egg-burgers from 6 am onwards.

The McDonald’s egg burger was first introduced in the USA in 1971 and remains one of the most popular items at present.

'Textech Sri Lanka' from Thursday

CEMS Global USA with its local arm, CEMS Lanka will launch three comprehensive international exhibitions focused on the entire textile and garment sector of Sri Lanka.

The exhibition, '6th Textech Sri Lanka 2015 International Expo' will be held from Thursday to Saturday at Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre, Colombo. Exhibitors from over 10 countries including India, Taiwan and Malaysia will participate in the exhibitions. This is the only apparel related expo that exclusively showcases the entire industry under one roof.

CEMS Global brings in reputed international manufacturers and suppliers through its exhibitions which helps boost Sri Lanka's trade and industrial sector.

ComBank marks Int'l Women’s Day

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon hosts a program today to pay tribute to women’s contribution to the national economy and society and to mark International Women’s Day.

The event under the aegis of the Bank’s ‘Anagi’ Savings Account for women is at the National Youth Centre, Maharagama. It comprises a number of competitions at a special ‘Anagi’ branded stall.The Bank will provide a branded booklet inclusive of cookery, dress-making and personal grooming advice from professionals for ‘Anagi’ accounts opened today. All ‘Anagi’ account holders will also be entitled to discounts at several popular merchant outlets up to March 15, a Bank official said.

Seylan Bank teams up with SLT

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) signed an agreement with Seylan Bank to integrate its carrier grade Wi-Fi platform with Seylan Bank internet payment gateway. The system will offer pre-paid services to its walk-in customers. Here SLT Chief Financial Officer Udeni Samararatne and Director and Chief Executive Officer, Seylan Bank PLC, Kapila Ariyaratne exchange copies of the agreement. General Manager – Revenue Collection, L.S.S.K.Silva, Deputy General Manager – Regional Finance and Collection (M & R2), SLT, Indika Peiris, Senior Deputy General Manager, Retail Banking, Tissa Nanayakkara, Deputy General Manager-Alternate Banking Channels, Seylan Bank, Ranjith X. Fonseka look on.

Prof. Mathew - General President, SLAAS

Prof. C. Deepal Mathew was inducted as the 71st General President of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) recently.

The SLAAS is the primer organisation of scientist in Sri Lanka founded in 1944, with a membership of over 5,000 scientists.

Prof. Mathew was educated at NalandaVidyalaya, and is a graduate of the University of Kelaniya. He obtained a PhD from the University of Colombo from a collaborative program with the University of Uppsala, Sweden. He was trained in Microbiology at the University of Kyoto, Japan.

Prof. Mathew is the Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Medical Faculty of the University of Colombo.

MTD Walkers in real estate business

Integrated infrastructure and engineering solutions provider, MTD Walkers PLC, recently completed the 100% acquisition of Wincon Development Ceylon (Pvt) Limited for Rs.2.17 billion, marking its foray into real estate and property development.

MTD Walkers PLC raised Rs. 2.42 billion on the recently oversubscribed rights issue. Wincon Development Ceylon (Pvt) Limited is a company registered with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, to construct approximately 25,000 homes under the NilaSevana public servants housing project.

The company has built over 1,000 affordable apartments in the Galle district. Although public sector employees are given preferred pricing, the homes are available for the private sector as well. The next project will be launched in Kundasale, Kandy.

Maliban turns 60

The 60th anniversary celebrations of Maliban Biscuits Ltd was held at the Thakwa Jumma Mosque Sainthamaruthu recently. The celebrations were conducted under the guidance of Area Sales Executive, Maliban Biscuits Ltd, A.L.Fahim. Water tanks, water pumps were presented to the Trustee of the Mosque M.P. Sahul Hameed Marikkar and his group by Head, Maliban Sales Department, Ravi Jayawardena, Regional Sales Manager, Dhammika Jayasinhe, and National Sales Manager, Kapila Jayawardena. Pic: Sainthamaruthu corr

Unilever leads 'Dream Company' ratings

Unilever Sri Lanka emerged as the number one employer in Sri Lanka for the second consecutive year, in a nationwide survey conducted by Nielsen.

Unilever also led the ratings as the 'Dream Company' to work for, in all categories, including in the FMCG sector.

Conducting business ethically, sound salary package, renowned management training programs, effective on-the-job training, strong career and personal growth prospects are some of the many reasons why the undergraduates have rated Unilever Sri Lanka as the number one employer.

Kia opens showroom, service centre

Kia Motors (Lanka), the sole local distributor for the Korean automobile brand, Kia, opened a showroom and service centre in Kurunegala as part of a dealer development initiative.

Designed and equipped to international standards and guidelines stipulated by Kia, the Rs 130 million facility is designated a ‘3S’ Kia Centre, offering sales, service and spares at a prime location on the Colombo–Kurunegala Road. Managing Director, Kia Motors (Lanka) Ltd, Mahen Thambiah said, “This is an important milestone in Kia’s growth in Sri Lanka because this is the first of many outstation service centres envisaged in our dealer development program.” The dealer development plan will be based on Kia Motors (Lanka) making investments to build in key towns, facilities equipped with the tooling specified by Kia Motors and thereafter franchising the dealerships, enabling the dealers to have better interaction with the customer. Crossborder Motors has been selected for Kurunegala, with discussions on to finalise the operations under supervision and technical support of Kia Motors.

T&FG employee receives Polo VQA certification

Tharanga Suraweera of the Timex and Fergasam Group, one of Sri Lanka’s leading manufacturers and exporters of ladies high fashion garments, received the Ralph Lauren Polo VQA certification recently. Timex and Fergasam is Sri Lanka’s sole dress producer for the internationally recognised brand Polo. Suraweera, a member of the T&FG quality assurance team, is the first to receive such certification and is part of the first generation of Polo Certified QAs. T&FG sources said that there a few more team members awaiting the Polo VQA certification.