Koala clinches top honours at National Business Excellence Awards 2015

The Koala Team at the National Business Excellence Awards 2015 from left: Thilak Rathnayake, Imtiaz Azeez, Nilka Dabare ,Vidushika Bodhipaksha, Thiyan Dep and Athula Kumara

Koala Ltd., celebrated as a true provider of unique and sophisticated contemporary interior design lifestyles, was the recipient of the Silver award in the diversified business sector, medium category at the National Business Excellence Awards 2015 (NBEA) held recently.

Winning such a prestigious award at the annual NBEA event as a first time contender is indeed commendable and is a testament to Koala’s unwavering commitment to excellence.

“Winning a Business Excellence Award is a great honor and as a first-time contender is indeed a proud and thrilling moment. It showcases our abilities to our customers demonstrating that we have grown from promising origins as a furniture manufacturer into a diversified lifestyle company recognized as an entity which exemplifies excellence in business,” said Thiyan Dep, Chief Operations Officer of Koala.

Organised by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), the NBEA is a unique awards scheme evaluating the overall performance of a company selecting the best businesses in the island.

For more than a decade this annual gala event has gained a prestigious reputation and recognition amongst the business community due to its high standards and professionalism. The awards attract a wide range of entries from large corporates to dynamic and innovative SMEs.

The NBEA also prides itself on having a large panel of independent expert judges who select winners according to strict criteria for each category and sector focusing on excellence in leadership, corporate governance, capacity building, performance management, local and global market reach, corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability and business financial results.

Koala has excelled through the judging process and emerged as a leader in its category amongst larger industry players.

“Throughout we have stayed focused on delivering excellence to our customers while improving their lifestyles. We have had a tremendous response from customers for our new divisions and look forward to continued growth,” Dep noted. 

Founded two decades ago, Koala was initially a sofa manufacturer primarily for the export market. Over the years the company experienced exponential growth and has now expanded to offer concepts, products and solutions dedicated to contemporary lifestyles.

Koala has strategically expanded its lifestyle divisions through segregating them into 5 entities; which includes total solutions for commercial interiors through Koala Interior Solutions (KIS), design and build division for residential interiors, wood, stainless steel and melamine manufacturing units, two unique lifestyle showrooms under its Retail arm – in Colombo and Kandy dedicated to modern contemporary themes, design and civil construction unit and table top division; offering premium glassware and flatware from three world renowned brands. Koala also exhibits its own brand of cutlery, KOALA 18/10 Stainless.

“Winning this award demonstrate Koala’s excellence as integral to our business success. We are capable of taking a bare land, completing the construction, design and fabricate the interiors, design and install stainless steel products such as domestic or industrial kitchen units to handrails and if required, provide even the cutlery and glassware – and we believe the award recognises this remarkable accomplishment,” Dep added.

With a strategic view on addressing future challenges Koala is in the process of expanding its current furniture and stainless steel manufacturing capacity and consolidating its wood and melamine furniture operations with an expanded production facility at one location

The company also intends to aggressively pursue total turnkey projects that include both civil construction and interiors offering a total solution continuing to distinguish themselves in the various aspects of excellence.