Ceylinco Life adjudged Best in Asia for CSR at CMO Asia awards

Ceylinco Life has once again been accorded international recognition for its commitment to the community, with the overall award for ‘Best Corporate Social Responsibility Practices’ at the second CMO Asia Awards for Excellence in Branding and Marketing.

Ceylinco Life was the only Sri Lankan insurance company to win an award at this event, which took place in Singapore on 22 July.

 “Our commitment to CSR is well established and has been entrenched in our corporate values for many years,” Ceylinco Life’s Managing Director R. Renganathan said. “Winning awards is not our motivation, but it is encouraging to receive Asia’s best CSR practices award.”

Asia’s Best Brand Awards are judged by the Global Research Cell of the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Council based on market dominance, brand longevity, goodwill, customer loyalty and market acceptance.

This is the third prestigious international award Ceylinco Life has received for CSR. In September 2005, the company created history when it won Asia’s first ever Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) award for the insurance sector at the 9th Asia Insurance Industry Awards. In 2010, Ceylinco Life won the top award for Social Marketing at the Global Awards for Brand Excellence presented by the World Brand Congress.

Ceylinco Life’s flagship CSR initiative titled ‘A healthy nation’ is a multifaceted portfolio of health-related initiatives that the company has funded for more than eight years consecutively. Built around the ‘Waidya Hamuwa’ series of free medical camps conducted by teams of travelling doctors, these initiatives have to date benefitted well over 100,000 people in rural communities.

Other elements of the initiative include a series of educational seminars for pregnant mothers titled ‘Senehasaka Udanaya,’ a series of blood donation camps conducted country-wide annually in collaboration with the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) and educational and awareness programmes for communities at risk from Thalassaemia.

In addition to its health-related CSR projects, Ceylinco Life is also committed to supporting the development of educational infrastructure for underprivileged schools in rural areas. This consists principally of building classroom blocks for schools and providing water supply to those in need.

In the 2010 financial year alone, the company spent Rs. 4.1 million for the construction and renovation of classrooms at 11 underprivileged schools in rural areas such as Kahatagasdigiliya, Jaffna, Moneragala and Embilipitiya.

The company also contributed to the construction of four houses for disabled soldiers in 2010 in collaboration with the Seva Vanitha Unit of the Sri Lanka Army.

Ceylinco Life defines its Corporate Social Responsibility as ‘The continuing commitment of the company to create a sustainable business environment even in the remotest areas of the country through meaningful interventions in areas such as healthcare and education for needy people, while providing protection and financial security of the highest quality.’

“All CSR programmes of Ceylinco Life have a close correlation with the brand’s core values and personality,” Renganathan added. “In all its manifestations, the corporate brand ‘Ceylinco Life’ stands for care and protection. From the brand logo of the father and child, to the slogan ‘Big or Small, Ceylinco Protects Them All’ and the pay-off line ‘Life, Love, Protection’ used in all mass communications campaigns, the single most evident value that emanates from the brand is care.”