NDB provides local entrepreneurs platform and global recognition

Asia Pacific Entrepre-neurship Awards (APEA) – Asia’s most prestigious awards for entrepreneurs was held for the first time in Sri Lanka at a gala event at Hilton Colombo on Sunday 12 February.  The event was organised by Enterprise Asia, in Association with Sri Lanka Malaysia Business Council (SLMBC) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

APEA is a regional recognition program for outstanding entrepreneurs across Asia and a platform for business leaders and leading entrepreneurs in the region to network, share intelligence and form lifetime acquaintances.

Twenty Three  nominees in the field of tea, rubber, metal, jewellery, motor, electric, financial services, petroleum; ICT etc were honoured for their enterprising spirit in their respective fields.

Out of the twenty-three winners, a vast majority were customers of NDB – the Principal Sponsor of the APEA Awards 2012.

The awards were under four categories – Special Achievement Awards,Outstanding Entrepreneurship Awards, Most Promising Entrepr-eneurship Awards and

Emerging Entre-preneurship Awards.

Under the Special Achievement Awards Category – Laugfs Holdings Limited Chairman W.K.H Wegapitiya won the award for Entrepreneur of the Year, Ramya Holdings (Pvt) Ltd Managing Director Ramya Weerakoon won the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, Lanka Orix Leasing Company PLC Deputy Chairman Ishara Nanayakkara won Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Nawaloka Hospitals Chairman Jayantha Dharmadasa won the Special Achievement Award.

The Outstanding Entrepreneurship Awards went to Ananda Jayasinghe of Antler Fabric Printers, Momamed Anver Zaki Uddeen of Anverally and Sons, Murali Prakash from Brown AND Company, Kirthi B. Kotagama from CIC Agri Business, Lalith E. Liyanage from RTS Holdings, Jayantha Karunaratne from Imperial Teas Group, Kushan Kodituwakku from Orange Electric and Saheedul Hijry Mohamed Rishan from PC House.   The Most Promising Entrepreneurship Awards went to Prabath Fonseka of Agro Nutrition, M.S.M Najeeb of Aroma Nutral Rubber, Chandrananda Diyunuge of Electro Metal Pressings, Gregory Edward Fernando of Greenkeepers, M.A.J.P Fernando from JP Marine, Nimal Gatamanna from Nithyakala Jewellery, B.H Prasantha Kularatna from Premium International, Shehan Seneviratne from SMS Holdings and Gulam Hussain Mohammed Hafeez from Yaseen’s Computerised Graphics. Dr. Anura Eliyapura of Aminra Collections and S.H.D Mahendra Subasinghe of Pathma Motor Stores were honoured under the Emerging Entrepreneurship Award category.

NDB has been in the forefront of driving economic development for the past 30 years.  As a pioneer in SME financing in Sri Lanka, NDB has contributed immensely to stimulate the growth of these sectors. Over the past three decades the Bank has not only financially supported such ventures island-wide, but also provided advisory services both to entrepreneurs as well as lending institutions.  

Supporting Pacific Entrep-reneurship Awards and coming in as the Principal Sponsor for the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards established NDB’s commitment towards recognising Sri Lankan entrepreneurs and business leaders.   

“Over the years NDB has implemented many initiatives to encourage entrepreneurs to produce the right product, to the right market, using the appropriate technology.

We also encourage branding and packaging as well.  Overtime we’ve observed with great admiration, small businesses migrating to medium scale and some even to large scale.” said NDB CEO Russell de Mel.  

Events of this nature encourage entrepreneurs to strive towards business ethics, product innovation and above all business excellence – the passport to international markets added de Mel.

Enterprise Asia a non-governmental organisation for entrepreneurship, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is the owner and organiser of Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards (APEA) since 1997.