World Brand Congress recognition for Expolanka Holdings, Expo Freight

Sri Lanka’s diversified conglomerate Expolanka won international acclaim at the glittering 21st World Brand Excellence awards ceremony held at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. Expolanka Holdings PLC was bestowed with the prestigious award for social marketing in recognition of its work carried out in the area of CSR and Expo Freight (EFL) for brand excellence in logistics.

Paddy Weerasekera, Head of Marketing, Corporate Communications and CSR hailed this, stating, “This is a total endorsement of our endeavours in brand building and CSR efforts. Corporate social responsibility is about demonstrating our Expolanka values beyond the confines of the company. It is about being good citizens by getting involved in the communities to which we belong.

“It is a collective and individual commitment to improving the cultural, social and physical environment in which we live and work. The wellbeing of our communities is also an important aspect of our business. The areas we focus on are health, environment, education, disaster relief and community development.”

The World Brand Congress is the single largest rendezvous of the best brains behind some of the world’s most successful and sought after brands. The Congress is an annual meeting place for leaders from every sector and continent and is a non-profit making activity aimed at a professional cause of development and growth. With a membership embracing 100 countries across the globe, Brand Asia is a body committed to raising the standards of marketing and brand management across all industries in Asia and the world.

Jagath Pathirane, CEO, Expo Freight (EFL) said, “The EFL team is delighted and deeply honoured with this recognition where our aggressive marketing and brand management strategies adopted to enhance our value proposition not only to our customers but to all stakeholders, have been appreciated by a global jury consisting of an eminent panel of judges.”

Expo Freight (EFL) also clinched dual honours at the recently held SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2012. It won silver for ‘B2B Brand of the Year’ and bronze for ‘CSR Brand of the Year.’

Among Expolanka’s many CSR projects are ExpoMedix, a non-profit dispensary and surgery unit treating patients for common illnesses, disaster relief for flood and drought victims, health camps, paper recycling programs, Earth Hour programs to protect the environment and for conserving energy, student welfare programs with free scholarships, computers and school books, the building of houses, roadways, drainage facilities and mobile toilets in various parts of the country, to name a few.