Struggling hotel workers
Hotel workers under an organisation styled the “Hotel Workers Centre” launched a protest on Thursday outside the Fort Railway Station saying they have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. They are requesting a compensation payment of Rs.15,000, all hotel workers to be vaccinated and for an extended period to pay their loans. Pic by [...]
Sri Lanka comes under EU scanner for human rights
The European Union (EU) will monitor the reports from the UNHRC in Colombo in view of the trade concessions granted to Sri Lanka under the GSP+ scheme following the passage of the human rights resolution against Sri Lanka in March in Geneva. In an emailed interview with the Business Times, the EU Delegation in Colombo [...]
Expolanka eyeing M and A to grow
Expolanka Holdings PLC flying high with recent growth in their core logistics business under the flagship EFL brand is eyeing its next stage of growth with mergers and acquisitions (M and A). Hanif Yusoof, Group CEO Expolanka Holdings in an interview with the Business Times on Thursday explained the group on the back of acquiring [...]
UDA launches debenture issue worth Rs.25 bn
The Urban Development Authority (UDA) is issuing debentures worth Rs.25 billion to raise funds through state banks to finance a large- scale middle income housing scheme, a senior official said this week. Nimal Perera, Secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, said that the first instalment of Rs. 5 billion of this debenture [...]
Sri Lanka Ilmenite tender flaws expose corruption and fraud
Sri Lanka’s latest sale of mineral sands mainly ilmenite in a flawed tender process conceals more than it reveals depriving the state of millions of rupees in revenue benefiting middlemen and racketeers, according to an Industries Ministry probe. Lanka Mineral Sands Ltd (LMSL) had called for bids from prospective foreign and local bidders for the [...]
CSE to ease rules to attract SOE debentures on individual merit
The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has set out guidelines to help state-owned enterprises (SOE) to go public with their debentures. “This will be adopted on a case by case basis to help SOEs to raise capital through debentures,” Viraj Dayaratna, Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) told the Business Times on Friday. He explained that [...]
FDI dilemma for Sri Lanka
Recently the Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, at a public forum, raised concerns about the import ban by Sri Lanka saying it would hamper trade relations. He was focusing in particular on vehicle imports from Japan. Other foreign envoys have also expressed similar concerns saying Sri Lanka exports, particularly garments to the European Union, were [...]
Fishing for nothing
Five years ago, I met some activists who were organising local people and protesting against the location of a power plant in Sampur. I wanted to know why they were against the power plant, because I was involved in a related project of the government. The government had decided to shift the proposed electricity generation [...]
BOC records Rs 2 trillion balance sheet complementing economy
The Bank of Ceylon (BOC) has recorded remarkable Rs. 2 trillion balance sheet in assets, loans and deposits becoming the first corporate entity to achieve this landmark in the financial year 2020, top officials said. This achievement despite global and local challenges arising out of COVID-19 could be attributed to the bank’s strong foundation, public [...]
BoardPAC and IronOne Technologies wins several awards
BoardPAC and IronOne Technologies – leading software solution companies, in recognition of its unique contribution and innovative approaches towards exports, bagged three prestigious Gold Awards at the 28th Annual NCE Export Awards 2020 which concluded recently. BoardPAC and IronOne Technologies were honoured at this year’s event held at the Shangri-La Ballroom, with the prestigious award [...]
Eco Spindles ranked among top 10 recyclers globally by the Global Recycling Foundation
Sri Lanka’s leading plastic recycler Eco Spindles (Pvt.) Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of BPPL Holdings PLC, was recently ranked among the Global Recycling Foundation’s top ten #RecyclingHeroes of 2021. This achievement marks a monumental milestone for the local recycling giant, as the Global Recycling Foundation meticulously processes nominations received by progressive companies, individuals and communities [...]
Running a business is no bed of roses, but coming across many thorns on the way, a successful entrepreneur’s words
The business world today has become a place full of challenges, competitiveness, risks and fear. As entrepreneurs, one must identify, value and seize any opportunity. Running a business in these challenging times is no bed of roses, but facing many thorns along the way. National gold award winner in the extra-large category at the Sri [...]
SLIM launches awards for SMEs
The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) achieved its Golden Jubilee milestone last year and to mark this achievement SLIM launches its first ever novel SME Development Awards (SLIMSMEDA), in addition to its already awarding ‘Brand Excellence’ and other annual awards. To announce this novel ‘SLIMSMEDA’ a media briefing was held last week at the [...]
NSB steadies COVID-19 ship with firm 2020 results
The performance of National Savings Bank (NSB) in 2020 has been characterised by strength and resilience, recording its highest ever profit. Despite the heightened uncertainty due to the impact of COVID-19 which has triggered a wide range of shocks on the bank, employees, customers and economy, its continued focus on financial resilience enabled the bank [...]
Brandix Associates helps hospitals in COVID-19 battle
Associates from Brandix facilities island-wide came together to manufacture export quality protective gowns and face masks (PPE) for frontline health workers in COVID-19 hospitals and treatment centres in Sri Lanka. The handover of PPE to these hospitals and treatment centres by Brandix Associates took place over the last few weeks. In a show of solidarity [...]
Arinma Holdings introduces two sustainable water solutions to Sri Lanka
Arinma Holdings, as a pioneering sustainable infrastructure development conglomerate with a vision to become the leader in water stewardship and environmental engineering, has introduced innovative water technologies to Sri Lanka, meeting the need for clean drinking water in the country. As an initial phase towards this goal, the company has introduced two products to the [...]
COVID-19 could spread due to New Year holidays, schools reopening
A stark warning was issued this week of another bout of the COVID-19 infection due to the inadequate availability of the vaccine, festivities like Sinhala and Tamil New Year and Vesak approaching and schools reopening. This is because large numbers of people converge and the reluctance of the majority of the community to adhere to [...]
Lanka Government Network becomes worthless exercise
The Lanka Government Network (LGN) project aimed at unifying and upgrading government establishments by using a single network has failed to achieve the expected results, a special internal audit inspection has revealed. The project has been launched to connect 3,500 government organisations and buildings with a minimum bandwidth of 100Mbps, and this will be further [...]
Emirates celebrates 35 years of service to Colombo
Emirates is celebrating 35 years of connecting Sri Lanka to the world, since its first flight in 1986. The airline has to-date carried more than 8 million passengers to and from Colombo – operating more than 49,000 roundtrip flights. Emirates currently serves the country with six weekly flights, connecting customers to more than 90 destinations [...]
South Asian economies bounce back but face fragile recovery
WASHINGTON – Prospects of an economic rebound in South Asia are firming up as growth is set to increase by 7.2 per cent in 2021 and 4.4 per cent in 2022, climbing from historic lows in 2020 and putting the region on a path to recovery. But growth is uneven and economic activity well below [...]
Ceylinco Life crowned Sri Lanka’s most popular life insurer for record 15th year
Sri Lankans have voted Ceylinco Life the ‘Peoples Life Insurance Service Provider of the Year’ for the 15th consecutive year, making the country’s life insurance leader the only company in its sector to win the coveted SLIM Peoples Award every year since the inception of the awards programme. This emphatic reaffirmation of popularity at the [...]
Hilton-led opportunity for women to enter SL’s hospitality industry
A higher participation of Sri Lankan females in the hospitality industry is needed for skilled and value creation jobs that gives higher yields, said Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority at the launch of “Liya Diriya” programme by Hilton in partnership with the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (SLITHM) [...]
Public-private sector collaboration towards a creative economy
While Sri Lanka’s economy has shrunk by 3.6 per cent in 2020 following two blows (repercussions of Easter Sunday attacks in 2019 and COVID-19 impact in 2020), there is a lot of positives and challenges the private and public sector must face in moving forward. A collaboration between the private and public sector can only [...]
Festive season turns bitter for sweetmeat manufacturers
New Year festivities are in the air with Sri Lankans countrywide preparing to celebrate it during the COVID-19 crisis without much fan fare and traditional sweetmeats as its prices have become bitter at present. Hundreds of sweetmeat producers at cottage level along with large and medium scale manufacturers have been badly hit by the skyrocketing [...]
New IPS publication: “Talking Tobacco: How Reduced Consumption Benefits the Economy”
A new Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) study offers empirical evidence that the net impact on the output of the national economy due to decreased tobacco consumption is positive because of increased spending on non-tobacco goods and services. On average, a tobacco-user household spend Rs. 2,000 per month on tobacco, constituting 4 per cent of [...]
DSI to collaborate with Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo
D. Samson Industries recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Faculty of Medicine University of Colombo (FOMUOC), with the objective of collaborating in the production of a Beta Brand-Diabetic Shoe Range. Prof. Chandrika Wijeyaratne, Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo; Kasun Rajapaksa, Managing Director of D. Samson Industries (Pvt) Ltd; Prof. Vajira [...]
GLX Garage SMEs become catalysts of the new economy
Good Life X (GLX) Garage was very much an innovative experiment to take the best of Sri Lanka to the world! Good Life X brought together 5 sustainable SMEs in the food, agriculture and design sectors who were seizing opportunities to be different, innovative and wanted to take on the global “conscious consumers” by storm, [...]
Ravi Exports wins awards at NCE Awards 2020, FCCISL
Ravi Exports (REPL) clinched the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE)of Sri Lanka Silver Award in processed food sector and Silver Award for National and Provincial categories at the Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year Awards at the (FCCISL)Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka held recently. REPL was founded in 1998 and [...]
Lina Manufacturing celebrates a decade of home-grown respiratory care products
Sri Lanka’s first Respiratory Care Research and Manufacturing facility, Lina Manufacturing, Marking a significant milestone, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Wednesday. The facility produces a large variety of respiratory care products for the state and private sectors. The factory , which was in Borupana, Ratmalana, commenced its commercial production on April 1, 2011, the company [...]
More months of skyrocketing freight rates to continue
Exporters in Sri Lanka are facing issues pertaining to skyrocketing freight rates which are moving up by between 80-100 per cent. Ceylon Association of Ships Agents (CASA)Chairman Iqram Cuttilan told the Business Times on Thursday that rates are still high and that this is likely to continue “for a few more weeks and months”. The [...]
Meeting of the SL-Korea Business Council
A dinner meeting was held by the Sri Lanka Korea Business Council, affiliated to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, on March 25 at Waters Edge. The guest speaker was Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, State Minister of Urban Development, Coast Conservation, Waste Disposal & Community Cleanliness. Council President Priyantha Mendis said that many Korean companies were keen [...]
SLT-MOBITEL rejects malicious spyware claim
SLT-MOBITEL, in a statement on Wednesday, said that it has come to their attention that there are certain statements and malicious messages circulating on social media about the installation and propagation of a spyware claiming that SLT-MOBITEL is complicit in an alleged unlawful activity meant to compromise the information of its valued customers. SLT-MOBITEL categorically [...]