The National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) launched the revised application of the 25th Anniversary Annual Export Awards Ceremony, which will be held on September 29 at the Grand Ball Room of the Hilton Colombo.
The NCE President elect Ramal Jasinghe in his address at the AGM stated that he will provide leadership to the Annual Export Awards, particularly as the forth coming event marks 25 years of an unbroken, consistent, and yet a dynamic awards scheme which is probably unique in the country.
Shiham Marikar the Secretary General of the NCE said the NCE Awards recognise and reward achievements of Sri Lankan exporters in International Markets, is the most looked forward to event in the Sri Lankan Business Calendar.
He added that since its inception in 1996 this Annual event has been conducted without a break, and had seen an increase in the number of applications received from exporters each year to be an Award winner. He said the Application Form of the awards scheme itself has become a living document, since an export enterprise which applies for an award has to fulfill many requirements related to its operations, which gives the opportunity to improve weak areas of the enterprise to conform to international standards.
Further, winners of export awards benefit not only by being considered as the best performing successful exporters, but also by differentiating themselves from others, giving them an advantage when competing in the International market place.
The Chamber will be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the event and one of the main innovative aspects that has been introduced to the scheme this year is the “Outreach Program” to recognize the achievements of provincial enterprises in the field of exports, especially in the SME category, who may or may not be direct exporters, but Service Providers to Exporters by being part of the “Export Value Chain”.
He added that provincial participants will receive special awards to motivate them, and that the Chamber will work with the Regional Chambers of Industry and Commerce to achieve this objective. He welcomed representative of Regional Chambers who were present on invitation to symbolically receive the application for distribution to their respective members. In this regard their assistance was sought to identify their member companies who could apply and compete for anaward.
WaruniAmunugama, Joint Director and Creative Head of Triad spoke passionately regarding the role Women Entrepreneurs should play to uplift the economy of the country. She stated that Women Entrepreneurs, especially those who have built their enterprises painstakingly from small beginnings should not hesitate to come forward to showcase their achievements, and especially their brands, to be recognized and rewarded. In this context she emphasized the value of benchmarking their enterprises, and competing for export awards to savour their own successes and also to inspire others to follow suit.
She cited the example of Ramya Weerakoon current Vice President of the NCE, as a shining example of a person who built her enterprise from scratch to what it is today, diversifying into other areas such as horticulture, from the garments sector.
She also cited the example of Lakmini Wijesundera who built her enterprise in the field of Information Technology which is a man's field and who was recognized as the Woman Entrepreneur of the year by the Women's Chamber of Commerce and Industry last year and also as the most outstanding Woman Exporter at the Annual Export Awards of the NCE last year.
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