YESL fields two companies from Southlands College, Galle, at JA COY

The Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide Company of the Year (COY) 2012 Competition Asia Pacific is being held in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia from 25-27 February 2013.

The event is being sponsored by the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and will be held at two venues – Berjaya Hotel and Berjaya Times Square Shopping Mall – Boulevard Central.

The student presentations are at Berjaya Hotel while the COY Opening Ceremony will be at Berjaya Times Square Shopping Mall on 27 February 2013. The COY Trade Fair too will be at the same venue on this day. The Awards Ceremony will be at the Berjaya Hotel on the evening of 27 February.

The JA Company of the Year Competition is JA’s annual celebration of the achievements of the JA High School Company Program students across Asia Pacific. At this event, which is a business competition for young people, the JA student companies will showcase the results of their entrepreneurial and learning experiences.

The COY is not merely a business competition for the young. The goal is the balancing of business achievements of each team as a whole with the personal development of each individual member. The student companies will be evaluated by a panel of judges who will determine company performance against the competition criteria as compared with other companies at each stage of the competition.

There are five stages to the competition – company report, company commercial video (one to two minutes in duration), oral presentations before an audience, trade booth display and interview at the trade fair and an interview with the panel of judges. Among the important points for the presentations will be creativity, relevance and content, delivery technique and style, and clarity of message.

The judges will assess the candidates on the following: visual display, product/service ideas, team spirit, sales techniques and product knowledge and unique features.

Age eligibility for the competition is from 15-19 years and maximum number of participants is five per company and each JA member/franchise holder can nominate two companies to represent their country.

Young Entrepreneurs Sri Lanka (YESL) is the member and franchise holder of Junior Achievement Worldwide (JA) – USA, operative in 125 countries.

YESL operates in Sri Lanka in partnership with the Ministry of Education, training school children in business, economics and entrepreneurship. Under the High School Component of the JA/YESL program, student companies are formed in schools giving students hands-on experience in the formation and running of a company.

YESL nominated two JA/YESL companies of Southlands College, Galle, to represent Sri Lanka at the Junior Achievement Company of the Year Competition – Asia Pacific Region. The companies Excelsior and Gallant Mystique were selected for their excellent performance in keeping with stringent JA/YESL criteria for the period 2011-2012.

The Excelsior JA/YESL company is represented by Kaumadi Sathyananda (President), Pulmi Jayasinghe (Secretary), Arshika Roshani (Marketing Director), Senuri Pathirana (Financial Director), and Dinushi Liyanage (Production Director). Excelsior’s main production line to be showcased in Kuala Lumpur is autograph albums. Sub products are cloth bags, notebooks, bookmarks, and greeting cards,

Gallant/Mystique JA/YESL company members participating in the event are Wathmi Gunasekera (President), Dilmi Gamage (Secretary), Harshani Subasinghe (Financial Director), Sashini Ambawatte (Production Director), and Chandeepa Kawshani(Marketing Director). Gallant/Mystique products on show will be pencil cases (main product) and key tags (sub products).

In addition to showcasing their products, the candidates will have to face interviews and submit their company reports, videos and set up trade stalls, etc. Judging will be strictly according to the stringent JA standards.

Shanthi Seneviratne, Principal, Southlands College, Galle, Shyamalie Mohotti, and Shanthi Subasinghe, Teachers-in-Charge of the YESL Program, accompanied the students.

YESL is represented at COY by its President Deshabandu Patrick Amarasinghe and Rashinda Hapuarachchi (Assistant Accountant).

In a pre-departure statement Deshabandu Amarasinghe said the local selections were made according to exacting standards and the chosen companies had excelled themselves. Therefore, he expressed every confidence that the students would do Sri Lanka proud at the competition.