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Sri
Lanka approves ILO convention on forced labour Speaking at the inaugural National Human Resource Management Awards, he said that due to the delay in ratifying this convention, the country had missed out on several benefits stemming from the new World Trade Organisation's trade regime. According to the minister, the country is likely to receive tariff concessions up to 40 percent from foreign countries, once the convention becomes law in the island. "By ratifying this convention, we have earned a lot of faith and goodwill from foreign countries including the European Union." He said the country needed to continue to show more transparency and accountability when entering into trade agreements. Samarasinghe said archaic laws, which were recently amended, allowing female workers in the apparel industry to work a maximum of 720 hours of overtime per annum against 100 hours earlier, have been heavily criticised by many international trade partners as inadequate. Samarasinghe also announced the commencement of the 'JOBS NET' programme, which will be launched in January 2003, creating an electronic database of Sri Lanka's human resource pool, enabling the unemployed to seek job opportunities. Commercial Bank was crowned overall winners at the inaugural National HRM awards ceremony jointly organised by the Association of Human Resources Professionals, Institute of Personnel Management and the Post-Graduate Institute of Management of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. Co-Sponsors of the event Sri Lankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Telecom emerged first and second runners-up respectively. Earlier in the evening, Lion Brewery Ceylon Ltd which won the National HRM award for medium size companies in the manufacturing sector, declined to accept the award since it felt that it was not proper to do so as the company was the main sponsor of the event. Minister of Power and Energy Karu Jayasuriya, who was the chief guest, said Sri Lanka's productivity was perhaps the lowest in the world and required immediate attention. He said that though the country's literacy rate was high, the workforce to a great extent remained unskilled. Director, Post-Graduate Institute of Management Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara noted that only one public sector enterprise had participated in the HRM awards scheme, and stressed the need for political leadership within public sector companies and privatisation. "Public sector enterprises do not give any incentives to its workers because such incentives must be approved by the Treasury, and the answer is always in the negative. Under these conditions, how do you expect such workers to be motivated and efficient?" Dr. T.V Rao, Chairman of T.V. Rao Learning Systems Pvt Ltd, delivering the keynote address highlighted the importance of HR professionals as the future CEOs of a company, due to their ability to focus on culture, vision and people. He said that it was important to see the role of HR managers as builders of a company rather than those that maintain records in a company. Other winners were: Services Sector - (large) - Sampath Bank, (medium size) - Logistics International (Pvt) Ltd; Manufacturing Sector - (large) - Ceylon Tobacco Company Ltd; National Award
for Best Training, Development Strategy and Practice: Eagle Insurance
Company Ltd; National Award for Best Employee Performance and Management
Strategy: HSBC. (SG) Centenary
scholarship fund Last year, Ms. Nisha Berugoda won a scholarship to take advanced studies in international law at the University College London while in 2000 and 1999 it was Prabash de Saram and Janak de Silva, respectively. The Shell Fund was established in 1997 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Shell Transport and Trading Company. An endowment of 10 million sterling pounds was made to fund 50 or more postgraduate scholarships a year for students from developing countries to study in the UK. Lankan
migrants drive demand for Ginger Beer Elephant House soft drinks were being exported to Europe, the Netherlands and even to Los Angeles in the USA, in order to meet with the demands of the ethnic community living in those parts of the world. There had been several requests from people across the world like Austria, where distributors have shown interest in taking Elephant House Ginger Beer to those markets, he said. "But brand building is costly and you don't branch out all over, unless you begin to achieve some results in the countries you set up," Walpola said that the company would be looking out for new opportunities, but would remain cautious in branching out fast. Elephant Ginger Beer, the only Ginger beer which is made out of natural Ayurvedic ginger is now available in Australia, and is sold by the Woolworth Chain of outlets, which is considered to be one of the country's popular super mall giants. Walpola was optimistic that the product would do well in Australia, given the nature of the product and its retailers. "It's a bit too early to predict the product's response in the Aussie market. The product is of a very high standard but brand building usually takes time." Meanwhile, Walpola said that the company's ice cream sales had grown by 30 percent since the advent of the new competitor, Cargills Magic, formerly Wall's ice cream which was sold by Unilever. "We believe its good to have competition because it keeps us on our toes. When you have competition you become smarter and sharper." - (SG) VAT
could raise soft drinks prices Sumithra Gunasekera, director of John Keells Holdings, said that volume wise, the soft drink industry had not grown, although the firm's Ceylon Cold Stores subsidiary still managed to make large profits. "We cannot understand the logic behind removing excise tax from liquor and imposing it on the poor man's drink, which has no relevance whatsoever. It's not fair." Himal Fonseka, country marketing manager for Pure Beverages Ltd., which sells Coca Cola, said that last year was a difficult year for almost all the industries and that excise tax did contribute to a slight negative impact on the total consumption of soft drinks. But he says that Coca Cola was able to swim against the tide because of its new marketing strategies, which has managed to capture some of its competitor's market share. Fonseka said the industry could expand if excise tax is removed. When asked as to whether a price hike could be possible, when VAT is extended to the wholesale and retail sectors, Gunasekera said that it was a bit early to predict the nature of the impact. "Prices wouldn't just soar. We will try as much to buffer the expense through loans, but if there is a big impact, then we would have to pass it down to the consumer, just like excise tax." Fonseka said that since Pure Beverages operated solely through retailers, the impact could be minimal. "I think it's a bit too early to say, and we are not too sure how VAT would affect our prices." Fonseka said that it was too early to predict the impact of VAT, but if the market was brought under VAT, soft drinks prices would increase. Following concerns raised by consumers about the lack of consistency in the price of soft drinks, Fonseka said that under the law, soft drink manufacturers are required to specify the maximum retail price on the label only for unchilled bottles of drink. "Usually a retailer adds value to the drink by chilling it, and therefore he can charge much more than the maximum retail price, and there is no limit as to what price a chilled drink should be." It was the role of the Fair Trading Commission to monitor such prices. - (SG) Starry,
starry X-mas at KFC outlets KFC guarantees countless activities and offers that will create a sense of excitement and cheer among adults as well as kids throughout December. The festivities will be spread across all four KFC outlets at Majestic City, Union Place, Kandy and Ja-Ela. The surprises that are on offer at the KFC outlets range from special offers on purchase of a meal to parties organised at the outlets for the enjoyment of their customers. As the ever-increasing demand for quick service meals reaches an extreme high in today's fast- paced lifestyle. KFC now offers Sri Lankans the opportunity to enjoy quality chicken meals, a company statement said.
Unlike traditional phone cards, the new card has indefinite validity as it is activated and recharged through the owner's HSBC credit card, as per the cardholder's requirements, the telephone company said. Mr. Robert Schuster, Chief Executive Officer of Tritel said with diversification into other value added services and leadership in the payphone sector, Tritel is well positioned in Sri Lanka's telecommunications industry. "We have invested about $ 14 million (Rs. 1.3 billion) in Sri Lanka's telecommunications infrastructure and have installed over 3,000 payphones covering almost 80 percent of major towns and suburbs nation-wide," he said. Thomas
Cook serves new products Clients were told about the company's new Latitude Card which helps travellers in case of sickness, loss of documentation or even sending flowers to one's spouse. This 'Recovery and Discovery' Latitude Card will be given to top clientele of Thomas Cook at no cost. AIG insurance personnel also spoke, saying this is the first time they have co-branded a product with a travel agent. CEO/General Manager of Thomas Cook Ananda Dhatabaya coordinated the entire presentation and also traced the birth, growth and expansion of Thomas Cook. |
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