Ceylon Chamber recognises the Best Corporate Citizen

The annual Best Corporate Citizen Award ceremony organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce took place at the Cinnamon Grand on 4 November.

Nestlé Lanka PLC bagged the Best Corporate Citizen Award 2011. MAS Intimates (Pvt.) Ltd. won the first runner up and Hatton National Bank became the second runner up.

Link Natural Products was the winners in category B, (below Rs.15bn turnover category) while Colombo Dockyard PLC and NDB Bank PLC came second and third respectively in category B.

HSBC was the winner of Community Relations and CSR category, MAS Intimates (Pvt.) Ltd. won the Environment category, Hatton National Bank PLC won the Governance and Economic Contribution category while Nestlé Lanka PLC bagged both the Employee Relations and Customer and Supplier Relations Category awards.

The ten Best Corporate Citizens recognised at the event were Aitken Spence PLC, Aviva NDB Insurance PLC, Ceylon Biscuits Limited, Colombo Dockyard PLC, Hatton National Bank PLC, Link Natural Products (Pvt.) Limited, MAS Intimates (Pvt.) Ltd, Nestlé Lanka PLC, Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC and HSBC.

The event also saw the recognition of several projects carried out by a number of companies. Ceylon Biscuits Limited won an award for its Gamata Sarana project that provides drinking water, builds roads and bridges, sets up libraries and labs in deserving schools and villages across Sri Lanka. Kelani Valley Plantations Ltd. PLC won an award for its project in conservation and enrichment of the Halgolla Nature Reserve. Linea Aqua also bagged an award for rejuvenating the eco system at Bundala National Park. Link Natural Products won an award for its integrated action programme in selected schools to create an enabling environment for education while Metropolitan won an award for its E-waste management project.

Six companies won merit certificates in encouragement and appreciation of their projects. Recipients of merit certificates were Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC. for its Sinahawa scholarship programme, Heatherset Hotels Ltd. of Aitken Spence PLC for its bio mass gasifier project, Holcim Lanka PLC for its masonry training as a skill development initiative in the North and East, NDB Bank PLC for its North East project that provided tool kits for 250 IDPs who successfully completed their training programmes  conducted by the Vocational Training Authority, Nestlé Lanka PLC for its dairy development project in the North and East and Standard Chartered Bank for its eye care services for the deprived and marginalised individuals in 20 cities.

The Chief Guest of the event was Minister of Power and Energy, Patali Champika Ranawaka and the event was graced by a large number of corporate personalities in the country.

The Best Corporate Citizen Award is the only corporate honour in the country that evaluates all aspects of a business and the winners are evaluated for their overall performance. The event is organised with the intention of promoting Strategic Corporate Sustainability and CSR within the business sector in Sri Lanka.Areas in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) were also included in the award.

The award is open for both private and public entities and the winners are selected through stringent criteria and the shortlisted applicants are required to make a brief presentation and also face an interview. Applications for the award next year will be open in July 2012.