Janashakthi Insurance Company announced that their Life Division was awarded the ISO 9002 certification from the Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI) UK says a press release. This is said to be the first insurance company that has been awarded this certification for Life Insurance.

The company was assessed on its quality management system in relation to Life, Disability, Pension & Related Medical Insurance Services.

The company achieved a high 44% growth in "first year premia" which is considered in a highly competitive environment. JI aptly gives the reason for this in his words "Janashakthi has achieved tremendous growth in a short span of time because we have invested heavily in human resource training and development", says its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chandra Schaffter.

The company recently bought over 51% of National Insurance Corporation. Janashakthi Board comprises Chairman Nissanka Wijewardane, Managing Director, C. T. A. Schaffter, Director Marketing, Tryphon R. Mirando, Director/General Manager, P. Schaffter and W. T. Ellawala, L. C. R. De C. Wijetunga, N. Pararajasingham and Thilak S. Ranasinghe.

Appointments
Appointed MD

People’s Merchant Bank, Naomal Soysa who assumed duties in January this year, was recently appointed as its General Manager Managing Director, says a press release.

A fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK, with an M.Sc. in Management from Wisconsin University, USA, Soysa counts over 20 years experience in industry and the financial services sector, where he has held the positions of chief finance officer and managing director. He was also a committee member of the Finance Houses Association from 1997 to 2000.

Referring to the future plans of the bank in its recently published annual report, Soysa has indicated that the Bank would be pursuing activities in the real estate sector,start insurance broking and offer operating lease facilities to its customers. These activities have been included in a comprehensive corporate plan that was prepared for the bank in the early part of this year.

New Director

Mackwoods Limited, which celebrated 160 years in business this year, has announced the appointment of Harendra de Silva, as a non executive director of the company, says a press release.

De Silva, who is based in London, was educated at the Doon School in India and thereafter, at Millfied School UK. He studied economics and law at Queen’s College, Cambridge, where he obtained an MA Degree an LLM in international law.

De Silva was called to the Bar in 1970, having been awarded an entrance scholarship to the Middle Temple. Thereafter, he practised in Chambers, the head of which at that time was Sir Dingle Foot (QC), British and Commonwealth lawyer, De Silva has been a recorder of the crown court (part-time Judge) for over 10 years and presides over criminal jury trials. He is on the Panel of Chairmen of the Home Office Police Appeals Tribunal. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1995.

The Mackwoods board comprises N. S. O. Nonis (chairperson), L .L. Samarasinghe (managing director), N. S. M. Samaratunga, Dr. C. N. A. Nonis, F. L. Fonseka A. L. Yatawara, N. Pararajasingham and H. de Silva (QC).

BOI website rated ahead France, HK

The British Publisher Euromoney’s prestigious Corporate Location Magazine’s rating of BOI, Sri Lanka website in the twentieth position is an ‘achievement that Sri Lanka can be proud of,’ says a press release.

Gillian Drury who assesses the best of the Investment Promotion Agency websites in the world conducts the survey annually. BOI Sri Lanka’s website designed and built by Affno has been rated above France (24), California (26), Costa Rica (31), Scotland (32) and Hong Kong (36), whilst India failed to make it to the top 50 this year.

Commenting on BOI Sri Lanka’s ranking Gillian Drury says, "this is a very good, no- nonsense site for busy executives who like instant solutions". Drury particularly comments on the effective use of drop down menu lists for each navigation bar option enabling trouble-free fact-finding. "Useful information is backed up with statistics and business links. Investment and approval application forms are both available online. Costs are up-to-date and comprehensive: they include registration, air cargo per item, permit and ID card costs", adds Drury.

Commenting on making it to the global top 5O, Suren Kannangara,Affno’s CEO said, "We are happy and proud that our client’s website has been hailed among the best in the world". "Looking ahead, we hope this becomes a source of inspiration to the many private sector companies, banks and government organizations in Sri Lanka who are still lagging far behind even in terms of basic standards, leave alone coming anything close to world class", he added.

Kannangara says that our companies need not be overwhelmed by the complexity of building an e-business. "You can take a step at a time as vividly demonstrated by BOI. A well thought out, skillfully executed and regularly updated informational website is the first step. Promoting its presence to a targeted audience is the next. Thereafter the various e-business functionalities could be included in stages", he adds.

Meanwhile Drury says that many of the sites reviewed have lost sight of their main purpose - to attract investment projects. To do this effectively, they need to tailor their features to the needs of executives responsible for site selection. Out of date statistics, or data that has been sourced in-house, does not fool anyone and sends out the wrong signals to the business world.

New package

After the introduction of the 3plus package, Mobitel has introduced its newest package — Edge, a press release said.

"This is a package for the business community including senior executives and field executives," says Brian Speldewinde, Product Manager. "It gives you the edge over other packages. The facilities are offered at nominal rates and the customer will also enjoy good customer care".

A customer does not have to make any deposit for the connection and will be entitled to a free detailed bill at the end of the month. This will ensure that the customer is kept updated about the calls he has made.

For Rs. 1,500 a month,

All incoming calls will be offered free upto a certain amount, irrespective of peak or off peak hours. Apart from these facilities, the package also offers free Caller Number Display, which is widely known as CND.

The Edge package is the second package that was introduced by Mobitel within the last two months. The 3plus package that was introduced recently offered its customers free outgoing within the package.

Service sponsor

Audio Visual and Business Systems (Pvt) Ltd. (AVBS), an ‘event’ management company, signed an agreement with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industries of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) to be the service sponsor of the sixth annual Sri Lankan entrepreneur of the year awards for the second year, says a press release.

Associated at this event were FCCISL president Macky Hashim, secretary general Samantha Abeywickrama, council member Kosala Wickramanayake, Sri Lanka entrepreneur of the year organising committee chairman Tissa Jayaweera, AVBS managing director Seniya Samarasekara and manager Kevin De Silva, and director/general manager (Aims) A.C.Jayawardene.

AVBS was set-up in 1992, originally renting out audio-visual equipment. It now specialises in integrated marketing, video productions, producing company profiles on VCD or CD-ROM format. desk top publishing, direct marketing, public relations and ‘organising to executing’ of events, be it launches, road shows, promotions and conventions.