The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) in a tripartite initiative collaborated with the Post Graduate Institute of Management (PIM) and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) to commemorate and appreciate the yeoman service rendered to the marketing fraternity of Sri Lanka by the late Professor Uditha Liyanage, to organize the commemorative oration. The oration was delivered by Deshamanya Dr Mahesh Amalean who delivered an inspiring speech reminiscing his association with Prof. Liyanage. The ceremony was held at the PIM auditorium on August 9, 2019 and the event was organised by the Professor Liyanage Memorial Oration Guidance Committee for which the members were drawn from the aforementioned bodies. An eminent marketer, the late Professor Uditha Liyanage redefined Sri Lanka’s marketing sphere. His ability as an eloquent speaker, communicator and a lucid thinker enabled him to reach the highest rungs of his profession. Throughout his successful career as a marketer as well as an academic, he always believed in “being focused on the basics.” His public persona portrayed him as exceptional and reliable, but essentially passionate and ambitious. Challenging the status quo, Professor Liyanage came up with a five-fold package of product value propositions: functional, experiential, relational, social and psychological – all of which are beyond the traditionally assigned values of any particular product or service. Speaking about the late Professor Liyanage and his immense contribution to the marketing arena, Suranjith Swaris, the President of SLIM said that his efforts greatly supported SLIM’s vision of elevating marketing in Sri Lanka. “The marketing definition by SLIM was formulated with his guidance and effort. He also contributed towards the development of the comprehensive entry kit for SLIM Brand Excellence, which to date provides a guideline to local brand custodians to think strategically and build brands with a long term strategic direction. He was an advisor of the Brand Excellence Project Committee and a member of the panel of judges of SLIM Brand Excellence. As we embark on a year of Transformation by focusing heavily on branding to boost the country’s economy by supporting the SME sector with regards to brand development and the application of marketing principles aggressively for the development of SME businesses, the absence of Professor Liyanage is a great loss to us” “Professor Liyanage was the first ever Sri Lankan Honorary Fellow of SLIM. He was also a member of the Board of Study. Personally, I see him as a strategist and sociologist who prompted many revolutions within the country’s corporate sector and made a commendable contribution to Sri Lanka’s marketing fraternity as well as to the national body of marketing in Sri Lanka”, Professor Ajantha Dharmasiri, the Director/Chairman of the Board of Management of PIM stated. Adding that, “The late Professor Uditha Liyanage needs no introduction, and I would like to call him a ‘Sage of our Age.’ He was an innovative academic with an impressive background in the corporate world as he was at the helm of many leading companies in the country. Therefore, despite being an academic, he always considered everything from a business perspective, as well. Although the majority tend to ignore the fundamentals in marketing, he always encouraged us to go back to basics.” Addressing the audience at the commemoration ceremony dedicated to celebrate the life and work of the late Professor Liyanage, Eardley Perera, the Founder/Chairman of CIM-Sri Lanka said, “Professor Liyanage was an indispensable part of CIM-Sri Lanka. He steered CIM towards a great growth curve as the Chairman of CIM-Sri Lanka from 1990-2001.He was also the initiator of the CIM Future Marketers Conference’, which is one of the most anticipated events in the institute’s event calendar in Sri Lanka. Moreover, he always lent a helping hand in deciding the annual theme of the conference.” “He commenced teaching with a very consumer centric subject, ‘The Behavioural Aspects of Marketing.’ Even in teaching, his consumer-centric strategy-driven and research-oriented approach was always seen valuable. Thus, Uditha blossomed to be one of Sri Lanka’s most sought-after lecturers in Management and Marketing. He served not only the Marketing fraternity but also the whole nation”, added Eardley Perera, who had also been a student of Professor Liyanage during his higher studies.

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Named First Digital Marketing Agency in Sri Lanka to be Certified

Photo Caption – eMarketingEye Senior Manager – HR and Administration Maheshika Ranasinghe receiving the certification

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For the first time in Sri Lanka, Microsoft Envision Forum will take place in Colombo on September 11, 2019. The inaugural full-day conference is part of a global event series encouraging business leaders in many regions and countries to gain actionable plans to realize business transformation. The forum will bring together the most forward-thinking minds in business and technology and is designed for CxOs and senior business leaders who are driven to position their organizations and business for success in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. The event will feature Digital Workplace Transformation & Productivity Guru Dr. Nitin Paranjape, a work efficiency optimization expert and sought-after speaker with over 25 years in IT. His keynote “Envision the future of your workplace with Dr. Nitin” will provide business leaders with opportunities to gain insights on how they could achieve more results with less effort and build a close and intelligent relationship with their employees and customers.  Mike Chan, Azure Business Group General Manager for Microsoft APAC, will deliver a showcase presentation on unlocking the potential of data and deriving actionable insights with Microsoft AI. Mike leads Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise efforts in Asia Pacific, where he helps companies and industries with their digital transformation journeys. While at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he was a co-founder of the Linux User Group and eventually went on to work at VA Linux, Intel, Trilogy and Sun Microsystems as a developer and consultant before joining Microsoft, 18 years ago. Microsoft Envision Forum will help organizations to interact with customers in a new and exciting ways; empower their employees with new insights and tools; help their business to operate more efficiently; and open new opportunities never thought possible. The event takes place on September 11, 2019 at the Lotus Ballroom, Shangri-La, Colombo from 9am to 6pm. The very next day, Microsoft will host the Inspire Sri Lanka Partner Readiness Forum, a full-day program where members of the Microsoft Partner Network learn about Microsoft’s global and regional priorities for the financial year, driving customer success with Microsoft products, programs and tools for partners to accelerate their business goals and concluding with the partner awards night rewarding outstanding performers.

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The Rhino Group launched their long-term strategy towards achieving their Sustainable Development Goals to highlight their commitment towards sustainable development and mitigating the climate change impact. As a widely respected socially responsible organization, Rhino has always considered sustainability as something well woven within their DNA. Throughout the last five decades, Rhino has placed paramount importance on embedding sustainable practices and community welfare into their business approach. The sustainability initiatives launched were selected through the conduct of extensive research on Sri Lanka’s current socio economic situation and analysis of the gaps existing with respect to enhancing sustainable development. Through the establishment of their four pillars of sustainability – ‘People, Product, Community and Planet’, Rhino has reshaped their business strategy to create a platform for sustainable development – a vital approach in their sustainability journey towards 2025. Commenting on their journey thus far, Rhino Group Managing Director, E. J. Gnanam said, “Rhino’s sustainability development vision has a very wide perspective in terms of stakeholder engagement and building awareness whilst consistently linking participating communities to enhance the ideology of protecting the surrounding we live and operate in. We believe that by launching these four sustainability initiatives, we can empower social and economic sustainability and work towards securing the safety of the environment for future generations. By re-shaping our business strategy to align with four pillars of sustainability, we aim to bring forth a positive impact to both the environment and society – creating long-lasting value and providing a platform through which we can transform our nation”. The four projects will focus on areas such as reforestation, life under water, waste management and green energy solutions. The projects are backed by a long term implementation strategy, aimed at realizing social and environmental benefits – thereby garnering a significant positive impact for Sri Lanka These sustainability initiatives encompass a wide range of topics and aim to close significant existing socio-economic and environmental gaps. The reforestation project which has already begun, will involve Rhino’s plans to replant large number of Kumbuk trees at identified locations across the island. Furthermore, Rhino intends on doubling the number of replantation of trees year on year. This initiative has been designed to increase the country’s forest density. The life under water project strives to protect the welfare of sea creatures under threat due to climate change in Sri Lanka, thereby allowing populations to recover to acceptable levels. This project is slated to begin this year, Rhino will join hands with several stakeholders to carry out the project. Rhino will commence their waste management initiative in the near future by partnering with several stakeholders. This project aims to implement collection drives for recycling waste and showcasing educational activities to advocate the importance of responsible disposal across the island. The Green Energy project scheduled to begin next year, will provide solar powered roofing solutions for poor families within rural areas. This project focuses on expanding the amount of renewable energy generated to reduce the energy costs of rural citizens. It will directly reduce carbon foot print as well as helping to eradicate poverty levels. Rhino’s goal is to ensure that these projects not only contribute towards benefiting the biodiversity and wildlife conservation but will also result in community development and social benefits across the country. Therefore, the involvement and continuous engagement of the public will only accelerate the completion and enhance the quality of these initiatives. Since their humble inception in 1962, Rhino Roofing Products have grown to become the premium providers of roofing solutions to the Nation. For decades, Rhino has been recognized as the noteworthy manufacturer of high quality roofing and allied products thus contributing towards invaluable infrastructure growth in Sri Lanka.  

Photo Caption: Mr. Priyantha Jayasinghe, Group Marketing Manager (3rd from left), Mr. Jude Fernando, Director (4th from left), Mr. E.J. Gnanam, Managing Director (5th from right), Mr. Indika Rajapaksha, Group Chief Financial Officer (4th from right), Mr. Duminda Hettiarachchi, Quality Assurance Manager (3rd from right), and the team from Rhino Roofing Products Limited

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Dreaming big and achieving the extraordinary: Thamari shares her story

Photo Caption – Thamari Senanayake, Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs (CRA) at Fonterra Brands Sri Lanka receiving the Award from Shanthini Kongahage – Central Provincial Council Member.

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The Commercial Bank of Ceylon won four awards at the first ever ‘Asian Banker Sri Lanka Awards’ ceremony that recognised Sri Lankan banks and financial institutions that have excelled in retail banking and technology.   The quartet of awards won by the Bank were ‘Best Frictionless Credit Evaluation Initiative, Application or Programme’ for its personal loan request facility via the Online Banking Platform; ‘Best Productivity, Efficiency and Automation Initiative, Application and Programme’ for its account opening process automation via a core banking system; ‘Remittance Product of the Year’ for its Remittance Card and ‘Automobile Lending Product of the Year’ for its top-up lease facility.   The personal loan request facility of the Bank which won the ‘Best Credit Evaluation initiative’ title recognises the service’s new scoring model with a wide range of transactional, behavioural and alternative criteria processed in a highly automated manner to reach out to more customers previously inaccessible. The service is part of the Bank’s strategic direction towards promoting digital channels among customers, and is especially useful as it enables instantaneous approval of personal loans during the request process itself. No other institution in the country offers such prompt service. This facility allows the applicants of personal loans to apply through Online Banking without visiting a branch. A decision on the facility requested is given instantly if the applicant is eligible to apply for the loan. Final approval is based on the delivery of required documents and Credit Information Bureau (CRIB) clearance.   The introduction of an automated and simplified account opening process that does not require the customer to fill-out an application form, but captures already available personal data via one’s national identity card details earned the Bank the ‘Best Productivity, Efficiency and Automation Initiative’ award. This process significantly reduces customer turnaround time. Customers can also request to open an account through the website of the Bank.   The award for ‘Remittance Product of the Year’ recognised the Bank’s processing of large volumes of instantaneous global transfers at the lowest possible per transaction cost, passed on as a value proposition to a large number of customers. The Remittance Card of the Bank issued free of charge, encourages the habit of savings among the under-banked which is a pivotal client segment that brings in foreign exchange to the country. Additional benefits of the Remittance Card include special discounts from selected merchants and emergency loan facilities.   The fourth award for ‘Automobile Lending Product of the Year’ was for the Bank’s top-up lease facility which is the only one of its kind in the country. It enables customers who have obtained leases to purchase vehicles for personal use to top up their existing lease facility at any point of the lease period, thus conveniently catering to the urgent financial requirements of this segment. The award won for this product recognises the capability of the Bank to acquire customers through market leading turnaround time and quality service, and its assets that demonstrate strong risk management over several market cycles.   Established in 1996, the Asian Banker is a leading provider of strategic intelligence and builder of platforms on the financial services industry. It conducts several international awards programmes that have emerged within the banking and financial services community as undisputed benchmarks against which to measure the performance of the best banks and financial institutions. The awards primarily cover retail financial services, transaction finance, risk management and financial technology and are accepted by executives as some of the most prestigious, rigorous and transparent recognition programmes.   The Asian Banker Sri Lanka Awards programme was inaugurated this year with the objective of recognising competition that is specific to banks and financial institutions in Sri Lanka.   The only Sri Lankan Bank to be ranked among the world’s top 1000 banks for nine years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 266 branches and 846 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has multiple international and local awards in 2016 and 2017 and over 40 international and local awards in 2018.   Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon and a Microfinance company in Nay PyiTaw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.     Photo caption: Members of the Commercial Bank team that accepted the awards (clockwise) Mr Upul Perera, Senior Manager Branch Credit Monitoring Dept; Ms Aparna Jagoda, Senior Manager Marketing; Mr Sanath Elpitiya, Chief Manager Retail Products Dept; and Mr Pradeep Banduwansa, Head of the Bank’s Digital Banking Unit.

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• First ever event in the Northern Province

• Keen interest by entrepreneurs in Matara

• Upcoming events in Polonnaruwa and Batticaloa

• Regional companies actively considering listing on the Empower Board

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Sri Lanka’s one of the two Casino Moguls that had dominated the Gaming Industry for over 30 years in the island, Ravi Wijeratne, Chairman-owner of conglomerate Rank Holdings, who operates a port, builds real estate, handles waste-reclamation and is building hydro and wind energy plants will soon foray into mega scale booming construction industry in Sri Lanka through buying Malaysia’s MTD Capital Bhd owned MTD Walkers PLC, a disclosure said. Wijeratne also has two of the five casino licenses in Sri Lanka and the other three are held by his domestic counterpart, Casino Mogul Dhammika Perera, who is controlling 4 colonial era started groups named Hayleys, Singer Sri Lanka, Delmege, Fentons apart from controlling 3 Finance Companies and Two Listed Privately owned Licensed Commercial Banks. Perera also controls 90% of Sri Lanka’s Floor & Wall tiles market and the Aluminum industry.

Accordingly in a filing to Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) released today by MTD Walkers PLC said that they received a letter dated 6th September 2019 on today (9^th September 2019) from Hewawasamge Ravindranath Srilal Wijeratne (Ravi Wijeratne) that had agreed with MTD Capital Bhd to purchase a majority stake amounting to 152,183,583 ordinary voting shares of the company constituting 90.78% through a voluntary offer to be made to all the shareholders of the company, in terms of the Takeovers and Mergers Code of 1995 as amended.

Wijeratne, 60, is raised in a beach town south of the capital like most of the emerging post war Billionaires in Sri Lanka, followed up his schooling in Colombo with a degree from the London School of Accountancy. He got his first gambling license 25 years ago when he bought one of the oldest casinos in Sri Lanka, the Star Dust. He next built the Casino Marina Colombo.

MTD Walkers is a listed construction company engaged in infrastructure-related businesses. It has recently been in focus for heavy impact that the company experienced due to non-payment or delayed payment by the Government for state infrastructure projects carried out by the company, apart from getting large loans amounting to billions that were capitalized through having a Director who was also on the board of one of country’s leading state owned Licensed Commercial Banks, according to several media reports. More recently, MTD Walkers in a corporate disclosure announced its intention to transfer its fully owned subsidiaries Walkers Shipyards Limited, Northern Power Company Ltd., and Colombo Fort Heritage Company Ltd., to its parent MTD Capital Berhad but the attempt was prevented as several State and private banks, to which MTD Walkers owed billions of rupees sought and obtained Enjoining Orders against the said transfer. Company has also failed to pay interest to debentures it released to the market in recent years whilst the shares are under watch list due to failure to comply with several Listing Rules.

– Reporting by Devendra Francis

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(Reuters) – ** Sri Lanka’s rupee closed higher on Monday from its lowest level in more than seven months hit in the previous session after foreign fund outflows from government securities showed a declining trend, while stocks rose for the first time in four sessions. ** The rupee ended 0.2% firmer at 180.40/60 per dollar, edging up from its lowest since Jan. 28 that was hit on Friday. It closed at 180.80/181.00 on Friday. The currency is up 1.2% this year. ** Foreign investors sold government securities worth 500 million rupees in the week ended Sept. 4, data showed, extending the year to date net foreign outflow to 53.7 billion rupees through Sept. 4, central bank data showed. ** Foreigners sold 25.7 billion rupees worth of government securities in the previous two weeks. ** A senior central bank official said on Thursday that outflows from the government securities have been settling following the central bank’s rate cut last month. ** The central bank lowered rates for the second time in four months on Aug. 23 to boost sluggish growth after tourism and investments plummeted following deadly Easter Day bomb attacks by Islamist militants. ** Central bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy after the policy said the bank was ready to cope with the outflow of $700 million foreign funds invested in Sri Lankan government securities. Exit of some funds had resulted in some pressure on the local currency. ** Meanwhile, the benchmark stock index closed firmer on Monday, ending a three straight session losing streak. It rose 0.31% to 5,816.52, edging up from its lowest close since July 25 hit on Friday. The bourse fell 1.6% last week. ** Investors have been in a wait-and-watch mode since the main opposition party named a hardline former defence chief as its presidential candidate. ** So far this year, the stock index has dropped about 3.9%. ** Equity market turnover was 381.5 million rupees ($2.11 million) on Monday, around half of this year’s daily average of about 649.1 million rupees so far. Last year’s daily average was 834 million. ** Foreign investors sold a net 1.1 million rupees worth of shares on Monday, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to 1.73 billion rupees worth of equities, according to index data.

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BBC – Alibaba chairman Jack Ma is due to step down from the e-commerce giant on Tuesday, marking the end of an era for the firm.

Who is Jack Ma?

What’s next for Mr Ma?

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Photo – Mr Mangala Yapa, Chairman BOI formally presents the Certificate of Registration to Mr Yusaku Sugano, Managing Director, Sugano Packing Material Ltd. Also present is Mr Dinesh Dahanayake, Director. The project represents an investment of US$ 7.5 Million

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Triad’s local insight wins Silver at globally renowned AD STARS 2019, while being locally recognized by LMD as the most respected ad agency in the country.

Award Winning API Team from Triad

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The head of Augmented Human Lab and Associate Professor at Auckland Bioengineering Institute, Prof. Suranga Nanayakkara, believes that a strong visionary leadership is vital to achieve long-term success. “Stayed in Singapore for 20 years, seen how the country has been developing I think all what is needed is a strong leadership and then we rally around, put all our efforts, elevate the whole country into the next level,” Nanayakkara said whilst delivering his speech during a seminar titled “innovation: think outside the computer box” organized by the Sri Lanka can foundation in Colombo today (10). “Technology changes so fast but vision last for years. So you should always have a vision. When you are working on something you should always take a step back and ask yourself why I’m doing this? What is the bigger thing I’m trying to achieve? Then you can move forward,” Nanayakkara added. Suranga Nanayakkara is a Sri Lankan with 12 patents and 70 publications in his name. Currently, he resides in New Zealand on the invitation of the New Zealand government which offered him a grant of 10 million dollars to set up and innovation lab. Suranga read for a Bsc in electrical and computer Engineering and a PhD in engineering at the national university of Singapore, both as a scholarship holder. Thereafter he served as a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts institute of technology in the United States. He is a proud product of Royal college of Colombo. Suranga is best known for his work EyeRing – A finger-worn interface for seamless interactions, Haptic Chair – Audio visual system to provide a more satisfying musical experience to deaf people and StickEars – a sound-based sticky note like device to make everyday objects more accessible. Suranga is among that rare breed of engineers that has a sense of “humanity” in technology. His work is most important to the people whose lives it most directly impacts: those who face challenged to function in the world due to sensory deficits in hearing or vision. What also makes Suranga’s contributions important is that they are not only applicable to those specific communities. Because of his emphasis on “enabling” rather than “fixing,” the technologies that Suranga has developed have a potentially much broader range of applications. With publications in prestigious conferences, demonstrations, patents, media coverage and real-world deployments, Suranga has demonstrated the potential of advancing the state-of-the-art in Assistive Human Computer Interfaces.

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Sri Lanka’s Hatton National Bank (HNB) said its listed debenture issue was oversubscribed and was closed at 4.30p.m. today (10) as per the Prospectus.

HNB announced that it has decided to increase the number of debentures to be issued to 50 million, Basel III compliant, tier II, listed, rated, unsecured, subordinated, and redeemable debentures with a non-viability conversion feature, amounting to Rs. 5 billion, with the option issue a further 20 million debentures (Rs. 2 billion) in the event of an oversubscription in the first tranche, and with a further option to issue 30 million debentures (Rs. 3 billion) at an issue price of Rs.100 per debenture.

However, in a stock exchange filling today (10) the bank noted that In the event the first two tranches are oversubscribed. “

“We have received applications for over LKR 10,000,000,000/- (Rupees Ten Billion) for the above Debenture Issue by Hatton National Bank PLC and accordingly the Issue has been oversubscribed,” bank added.

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The Ministry of Finance announced that fuel prices had been reduced with effect from midnight yesterday.

Accordingly, Petrol (Octane 92) per litre  has been reduced by Rs. 1, the revised price will be Rs. 137; Petrol (Octane 95) will be sold at Rs. 161, decreased by Rs. 2 per litre. One litre of Super Diesel will be sold by Rs. 2 and the new price will be Rs. 132.

However, there was no price revision on Auto Diesel which remains at Rs. 104.

Meanwhile, currently the world market is observing a tidal rise in fuel prices. Hence, a barrel of crude oil was priced at US $ 62.67 in the world market yesterday (10).

Meanwhile, a barrel of petrol in the Singapore market was priced at US $66.50 while a barrel of diesel was priced at US $ 73.63 on Monday (9).

Last month, on August 9 a barrel of petrol in the Singapore market was priced at US $ 64.85 while a barrel of diesel was priced at US $ 70.46.

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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday (10) emphasized upon the development projects that were undertaken by the government, such as the expressway systems, road infrastructure projects and the multi-modal transport hub.

“We have planned new access roads to enter Colombo, Which begins work today. We are also planning to develop a Megapolis in the Western Province, which will eventually make the city more attractive. ” he stated.

Premier made these remarks whilst participating in the ceremony to commence the Port Access Elevated Highway Project.

The relevant agreement for the project was signed between China Civil Engineering Company and the Road Development Authority (RDA) in the presence of the Premier and the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Chang Xueyuan.

The project will see the construction of about 5.3 kilometers of an elevated toll highway with related facilities between the New Kelani Bridge (NKB) and Galle Face in central Colombo.

It will provide a direct link to the city center and the port from the Colombo- Katunayake Expressway via the NKB, and then extend the expressway network into the city. 

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Conclave 2019 sees interests from foreign participants for Agriculture, Power and Energy, Tourism and Leisure, Export Manufacturing/Services, Infrastructure and many other thrust industries

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The shipping market dynamics have changed through international trade disturbances such as the trade war between USA and China, the sanctions against Iran, the uncertainty regarding Brexit, Mercantile Shipping Company PLC chairman H. A. R. K Wickrematileka said. “Shipping market is facing a continuous oversupply of tonnage. At the same time, we see a concentration process on the charterers side through bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions reducing the number of charterers. Whilst we have a very good reputation of managing our vessels efficiently with low operational costs and moderate overheads, we cannot win the battle on the cost side. The year was also crucial for our shipping operation as the Norddeutsche Landesbank changed their policy and now wants to dispose of their ship financing portfolio,” Wickrematileka told shareholders in the annual report 2018/2019. In the year 2018/2019 the Group made a net loss of approximately RS.1,060 Million after tax, compared to a net loss of Rs.372 Million last year, whilst Mercantile Shipping Company PLC showed a net profit after tax of Rs.3.7 Million in comparison to a net profit of Rs. 4.2 Million after tax last year. Mercantile Emerald Shipping (Pvt) Ltd on the other hand has made a loss of Rs. 790 Million which is not relevant to Mercantile Shipping Company PLC at this stage. However, the company is looking foward for a better future in the coming years. “The share price which has dropped to a level of Rs.45 is expected to improve,” Wickrematileka said. “With the local and international ship owning industry being very much on the decline, the Company will explore areas of investment to secure future business, where it could use its link into Germany to develop new business ideas in the growing service industry,” Wickrematileka added.

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