FCCISL completes judging process of Entrepreneur Awards

The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) said yesterday that it has just concluded the evaluation process of Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2019, under the theme, ‘Innovation and Productivity for Sustainable Growth’.

The conclusion is an important milestone in its journey towards the grand finale scheduled for 25 March at BMICH.

Speaking about the evaluation process the Chairman of the judging process Dr. Samantha Rathnayaka a Faculty Member/Management Consultant at the Postgraduate Institute of Management of University of Sri Jayewardenepura said, “It was an exciting assignment to me and my fellow judges who worked hard tirelessly over a year. We feel that we are privileged to evaluate, interview and visit Sri Lankan entrepreneurs and their business life cycle using very practical and sensible business criteria. On behalf of the panel of judges I would like to place our sincere thanks and gratitude for FCCISL leadership for creating a very free and conducive environment throughout the judging process.” 

Further he said, “Even though applicants may get different awards at the ceremony depending on their performance, myself and my team agree on one important point that is at the evaluation process we were expected to put them on test but indeed applicants put us on test with their resilience and spirit of entrepreneurship in a crisis time.

“Our evaluation revealed that the spirit of entrepreneurship, courage and perseverance of applicants while facing the biggest ever challenge since the second world war – COVID-19 are amazing. We also observed that these applicants represent an important cross section of the Sri Lankan businesses he concluded.” 

No doubt in the past, this event has helped many of our Sri Lankan entrepreneurs reach global standards in terms of productivity and value creation. It also acts as a motivational tool and creates a high degree of enthusiasm among all the participating organisations.

The previous award ceremony was attended by well over 1,000 participants which included dignitaries such as Prime Minister, several cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic community, top government officials, and most renowned and well-established entrepreneurs from all parts of the country.