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Interblocks
and Emprise IT, the next stars of Nextventures Interblocks received early stage funding from Nextventures to enhance its international market presence and Research and Development (R&D) in Agent technologies. "The company's performance in two years of operations has seen the evolution of strong commerce and finance e-business applications. Of the company's products, the Internet Payments Solution (iPay) was selected by SchumbergerSema, a global financial IT giant to complement its products through a marketing rights agreement. The iPay software suite is the first fully automated multi-currency online Internet Payments System developed in Sri Lanka and also deployed at Sampath Bank to run the first Rupee-based Internet payment gateway in Sri Lanka," the statement said. Investment in Emprise IT, an Asia Pacific Wireless Solutions Developer, is relatively new for Nextventures and is jointly funded by Celtic Pacific and Upstart Capital, two VC's based in New Zealand. The company is headquartered in New Zealand with an office that carries out its international marketing operations. Emprise IT working closely with Compaq focuses on developing applications for the iPaq Pocket PC. Its flagship product Avya, is also being used locally by Unilever connecting the field force to its back-office. Using the application enables Unilever to work towards a paperless environment in which product orders, etc. are updated online. "We are optimistic that these will take pride of place in our portfolio. Most IT companies are going through a bad patch. IT companies in our portfolio are no exception, but we are confident that these companies will bounce back, mainly because they have been founded on strong business principles," said Nissanka Weerasekera, Chief Executive Officer of Nextventures. Nextventures Ltd was launched as a venture capital fund management company in May 2001. The evolution of Nextventures was part of a transformation strategy in which it manages a close-ended 'PVIC fund', while having the freedom to manage funds of other investors under separate agreements. This gives the original investors full benefit of their investment. PVIC was incorporated in 1992 as a fully-owned subsidiary of the People's Bank and later joined by National Insurance Corporation Ltd totalling an equity capital of Rs. 200 million, the statement said. UAL
enters Jaffna as business takes off Over
10,000 free pension plans from Ceylinco Life The first ever cash bonus in the industry, the pension plans will be opened for policyholders who have kept their policies active for at least ten years. The start up contribution from Ceylinco Life will be based on an investment calculated on the value of Rs. 25 per Rs. 1,000 sum assured. "This special loyalty bonus will be paid in addition to the normal bonuses that would accrue to these policy holders," Ceylinco Life Director Amali Seneviratne said, disclosing that some policyholders would receive as much as Rs. 62,500 as a loyalty bonus in the form of pension plans. This unique scheme was designed to celebrate Ceylinco Life's achievement of a decade of leadership in its sector, and to popularise retirement planning which is becoming imperative in Sri Lanka, Ceylinco Insurance's Director/General Manager (Life), R. Renganathan said. He said the company had allocated Rs. 17.5 million for this special loyalty bonus as an investment for the future security of the company's policyholders. "It is estimated that the population of retired people in Sri Lanka will double by 2020 and the country is ill-equipped to ensure the well-being of these people. Private sector run pension schemes are going to be critical in the years ahead," he explained. The dispatch of Ceylinco Life's special loyalty bonuses to more than 10,000 eligible policyholders begins on May 15, the company said. Chamber
urges changes in pension rules The chamber urged the removal of the legislative barriers that prevent the establishment of private sector managed new pension/provident/gratuity funds by repealing the provisions of the Employees' Provident Funds (Special Provisions Law No. 6 of 1975), brought into force - 21 years later - in 1996. "Reforms should facilitate the process for new provident/pension/gratuity funds to be admitted as approved funds by the Commissioner of Labour and the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue, after satisfying themselves that the proposed funds will be properly managed and establish a supervisory authority for the control of the private sector approved funds." The chamber
has requested the government to: - arrange for the Employees' Provident Fund and the Employers' Trust Fund to utilise the services of approved fund managers for management of benchmark portfolios of debt and equity funds from the funds presently managed by state institutions. Cleaner
production centre initiated in SL The main aim
of the NCPC is to promote the application of Cleaner Production
(CP) in industries and enhance the profitability of companies whilst
conserving and protecting the environment, said Nihal Abeysekere,
Chairman of SLNCPC and a Vice President of the Federation of the
Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka. Minister of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy, Investment Promotion and Constitutional Affairs G.L. Peiris, speaking as the chief guest, emphasised the importance of CP and proper management of resources in order to achieve sustainable development. Minister of Industries Rohitha Bogollagama said the SLNCPC in association with the ministry should carry out case studies with regard to CP. "With the private sector and the public sector coming together for such programmes the task of the government would be made easier," he said. The Norwegian
government has provided funds for the establishment of the SLNCPC.
The activities
of the NCPC includes creating awareness by demonstrations, providing
professional constancy services to industries, training industry
personnel, financial support for CP technology investments and information
dissemination. Abans
to pay Rs 7 lakhs in Ruhunu campus contract FR case The judgement, delivered by Justice C. V. Wigneswaran with Justices Mark Fernando and D.P.S. Gunesekera agreeing, stated that there had been a serious flaw in the evaluation process in which Abans had been unjustly enriched, making a minimum of 10 percent profit which they were not entitled to. Court also directed Ruhuna University to pay Rs. 50,000 as costs to Floor Care Cleaning Services (Pvt) Ltd. and to refund all tender fees and deposits made by them before August 1. Court also directed Ruhuna University to take immediate steps to call for fresh tenders for the period August 1, 2002 to July 31 2003. The petitioners, Floor Care Cleaning Services filed a fundamental rights application on May 29, 2001 alleging that their right to equality and equal protection had been infringed by the Ruhuna University who awarded the tender to Abans Environmental Services, who had offered a five percent discount on its prices provided they were awarded the entirety of the contract. The judges took into consideration the conditional discount offered by Abans which had not been told to the other contenders of the tender, the matter having come to light for the first time in court, and also the fact that the other bidders were not provided an equal opportunity to offer a discount. The judges noted that when offers are called and prices quoted the exact price offered is expected to be quoted. They stated that "to bargain on the price through the modus operandi of a conditional bid seems to go against the very purpose of a tender. "Tenders are called from qualified tenderers to ascertain the price quoted by each tenderer and to award the contract to the lowest tenderer." Floor Care Cleaning Services, which had satisfied all the pre-qualification criteria required in the tender for janitorial services for five specified buildings of the university had offered the lowest price at the time the bids were opened. However, the tender had not been awarded to them. Instead, Abans, which had been providing cleaning services for the previous year, was allowed to continue with their service. In the process of choosing the bids the evaluation committee had overlooked the fact that the five percent discount offered at the time by Abans was applicable only if the entirety of the contract was awarded to them. Nevertheless, even with the discount, Floor Care Cleaners still qualified as the lowest bid. Instead, the committee had considered the discount as applicable to the five sites separately thereby disregarding the contract of Floor Care Cleaners. Court held that the petitioner's fundamental rights to equality and equal protection of the law as guaranteed by Article 12(1) of the constitution had been infringed. Sanjeewa Jayawardena with Ms Priyanthi Gunaratne instructed by M.C.M Nawaz appeared for the petitioner. Shibly Azeez, PC, with Vishtap Choksy appeared for Abans. Rajive Goonetilleke appeared for the Ruhuna University and the Attorney General. E-Point,
is now 'country partner' for Asian Vendors Asian Vendors Inc Vice Chairman Ramesh Guptha told the launch ceremony in Colombo that the Asian economy was set for a significant explosion in trade with the lowering of barriers worldwide. "By serving as a infomediary, getting buyers and sellers together and by providing authentic and updated information, Asian Vendors thus provides a reliable global platform for this market to grow", he said. Economic Reforms, Science and Technology Minister Milinda Moragoda who was chief guest at the ceremony said the role of a government was more as a facilitator and a catalyst, creating an enabling environment for such business interactions, rather than getting actively involved in the process. E-Point (Pvt) Ltd is a joint venture between DLPL Yellow Pages and Itmin. Managed by DLPL, its current board comprises Lt. Gen. Denis Perera (chairman), Errol Perera, Tissa Jayaweera, Suresh Fer-nandez and Dhammika Jayawardena. |
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