Sampath Bank wins ‘Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2015’

Sampath Bank PLC emerged as the winner of the ‘Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2015’, an annual event organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the country’s premier business chamber to recognise the sustainable champions of the local corporate world.

Singer Sri Lanka PLC and National Development Bank PLC were awarded as the 1st and 2nd Runners Up of the competition respectively. The awards were given last night (26) at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. 

The glitzy event saw nearly 300 top executives of the corporate world in attendance, which also included the participants at the competition.

Citizens Development Business Finance PLC became the winner of Category B (less than Rs. 15 billion turnover) while Laugfs Holdings Ltd. and Access Engineering PLC became the 1st and the 2nd Runners Up of ‘Category B’, respectively.

Sampath Bank PLC, Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, National Development Bank PLC, Aitken Spence PLC, People’s Leasing and Finance PLC, John Keells Holdings PLC, Hatton National Bank PLC, Ceylon Biscuits Ltd.

 Citizens Development Business Finance PLC and Sri Lanka Telecom were chosen as the Top Ten Corporate Citizens of the Year.

Meanwhile, Linea Aqua Ltd. won awards for its performance in the ‘Environmental Management and Financial Performance’ categories, while Aitken Spence won an award for ‘Environmental Integration’. 

John Keells Holdings won twin awards for its contribution made via ‘Environmental Value Addition’ and ‘Community Relations’ categories.  Ceylon Tobacco won a category award for ‘Employee Relations’. NDB Bank was awarded under the ‘Governance’ category while Laugfs Holdings PLC and Sri Lanka Telecom grabbed category awards for ‘Economic Contribution’. Sampath Bank PLC won an award for ‘Customer Relations’ under category awards.

Triple Bottom-line Awards were presented to John Keells Holdings PLC, Sampath Bank PLC and National Development Bank PLC under the categories of Environment, Social and Economic Sustainability, respectively.

Sampath Bank PLC, Singer Sri Lanka PLC, Access Engineering PLC, Aitken Spence PLC and Ceylon Biscuits Ltd. became the Sustainability champions of their respective sectors.

Aitken Spence PLC also won an award for the ‘Best Presented Application’.

Cargills Ceylon PLC, Ceylon Biscuits Ltd., Hirdaramani Industries Ltd. and Link Natural Products Ltd. won awards for ‘Best Sustainability Projects’ carried out during 2015, while 99x Technologies, Access Engineering, Allianz Insurance, Ceylon Biscuits, Lion Brewery and Quantum Clothing Sri Lanka won Merit certificates under the same awards category.

Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya was the Chief Guest, while Standard Chartered Bank Global Head of Sustainability Mark Devadason delivered the keynote speech.

Welcoming the guests, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Samantha Ranatunga said: “This initiative, we believe helped Sri Lankan firms transformation to adapting to the ‘triple bottom line’ which was fast catching up in the global sphere. Since that initiation, I have witnessed a large number of Sri Lankan firms moving towards embracing the concept on their own, thus contributing each other’s share to a build a ‘sustainable future’.”

Speaking further, Ranatunga also said: “Over the past 12 years of the competition, firms who took part in this contest have shown commitment towards introducing sustainability practices in every aspect of business in which they operate. This is encouraging in an era where we also hear stories of corporate greed, unethical business practices, labour unrest over archaic labour rules and customer complaints, etc. emanating from the corporate world, which actually threatens the very existence of the triple bottom line concept.”

‘The Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award’ was held consecutively for the 12th year by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, and the competitors went through a thorough evaluation and a judging process conducted by a competent panel of evaluators and judges.