International Young Fashion Entrepreneur 2009 Award
Sri Lanka’s national winner of the 2009 International Young Fashion Entrepreneur (IYFE) Award was announced this week, going to Ms Linda Speldewinde, the founder and managing director of the Academy of Design.
“The aim of the award is to raise awareness of the potential of the creative industries. The UK has grown its creative industries exponentially in the last decade and we want to share the experience with other countries,” said the country director of the British Council Sri Lanka, Gill Westaway, speaking at a press conference.
This year’s national winner, Ms Speldewinde, will represent Sri Lanka at an international competition in February 2009. This young entrepreneur founded the Academy of Design, a pioneering venture to provide undergraduate education in fashion design to young people in Sri Lanka. She also set up ‘Peshakala’, a project to revive the use of indigenous textiles in Sri Lanka and engage young designers in craft communities in villages. This year she initiated Colombo’s ‘Design Week’ to further develop local design talent.
“I will represent Sri Lanka at the international competition and if I win, I will also come up with a project to develop creative industries in Sri Lanka,” said Ms Speldewinde.
Ms Speldewinde will compete alongside eight other national winners from around the world for the title of International Young Fashion Entrepreneur 2009. The eight other competitor countries are; Brazil, India, Indonesia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Tunisia and Vietnam.
LOLC reports strong growth in 2nd quarter
The LOLC Group reported strong growth for the second quarter with income for the three months almost doubling when compared with the same period of the previous year. In a press release, Group Managing Director Kapila Jayawardena said LOLC was able to achieve strong growth during these volatile times by way of careful management of the portfolio through sound credit practices and risk mitigation strategies, a healthy product mix and the continued confidence of customers in LOLC as a provider of financial solutions as well as the effort of its committed staff members.
The Group income for the three months increased by 96% to Rs.2,706 million from Rs.1,381 million. The income for the six months increased by 76% over the corresponding period the previous year to Rs. 4,666 million. The press release stated that the Group's operating profit before net interest cost for the quarter increased by 118% to Rs.1,954 million from Rs.896 million last year, The operating profit for the quarter increased to Rs. 314 million, an increase of 174% from the previous year. The profit after tax for the quarter increased to Rs.279 million after providing Rs.78 million as corporate tax. Total assets of the Group increased to Rs.48,654 million from Rs. 28,621 million a year ago.
LOLC's fully owned subsidiary, Lanka ORIX Finance Company received approval from the Central Bank (CB) to mobilise foreign currency deposits, in addition to mobilising local currency deposits, a first for the non-banking financial sector, the press release said. Deposits mobilised from customers nearly doubled when compared with the previous year to Rs. 4,583 million.
Standard Chartered banker says mis-selling should be penalised
The chairman of Standard Chartered Bank, Mervyn Davies, says that banks which mis-sold Lehman Brothers minibonds should be penalised.
According to a recent report on Radio Television Hong Kong, a Hong Kong broadcaster, Mr Davies also expressed concern that the (Hong Kong) Legislative Council's investigation would slow-down progress on the issue, and cases could become bogged down in the courts.
The report said that the state’s Democratic Party had criticised the Securities and Futures Commission and the Monetary Authority for dragging their feet in handling the Lehman Brothers saga.
In Sri Lanka, the bank has been accused of mis-selling in an oil hedging deal which is now before the courts.
Asiri Surgical Wellness Centre ties up with Vision Care
The ASIRI Surgical Wellness Centre has teamed up with Vision Care, to provide eye testing and diagnostics for corporate clients. Focussing on sectors that are most prone to sight problems, this team will visit companies’ encouraging employers and their employees to get tested.
“In this day and age where people are so dependent on computers, it is common to ignore their eyesight and strain at computer screens,” said Dr. Rangika Gunaratne, Consultant Eye Specialist for ASIRI Hospitals in a press release issued by the hospital company.
Shortfall of revenue seen
The Supreme Court (SC) judgment to reduce petrol prices will create a huge shortfall in government revenue, economists say. If the government is unable to find other measures to boost revenue, the deficit will be huge and aggravate existing problems. The government can resort to taxing other items but again, it is a delicate situation, one economist said.
If the government taxes items that are going to affect production in a situation where the economy is already declining, it will depress production. If consumer items are taxes, the cost of the living will increase. He said if diesel and kerosene prices also come down in addition to petrol costs, it will help in easing the cost of living.
The economist said the budget figures for 2009 that were presented in November are likely to get much worse in the coming year because of a decline in revenue. Revenue is dependent on economic activity but there has been a decline in growth in local industries. It will also have quite an impact on the economy because apart from the export sector, the corporate sectors are showing lower profits.
Run on financial services firm
A large financial services company with major business lines on credit cards faced a run on its deposits this week, but senior officials managed to mitigate the situation, according to banking sources.
"Some customers wanted to re-claim their deposit from this company which has been in business for more than a decade," a banking source told The Sunday Times FT.
Several attempts at contacting the senior management, on Friday were futile. There was no clear reason why some customers wanted to withdraw their deposits.
HSBC pledges £15 bln to UK mortgage borrowers in 2009
HSBC will lend up to £15 billion in mortgages to UK homeowners in 2009, 20 % more than in 2008 and almost double what the world's local bank lent in 2007, the Bank said last week.
“This follows HSBC's announcement that it has committed an extra $5 billion to its small business customers around the world, including £1 billion dedicated to UK enterprises,” a statement said. HSBC said it passed on the full benefit of the recent 1 % base rate cut to retail and business customers and continues to work with government to support customers facing mortgage repayment difficulties. The bank also offers the UK’s leading Base Rate Tracker mortgage and enabled borrowers in 2008 to switch to HSBC and freeze their repayments through its Rate Matcher product.
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