John Keells Group commemorates National Sports Week 2016

To commemorate National Sports Week (25-30 January), which is an initiative of the Ministry of Sports, the John Keells Group carried out a series of activities for the staff, outside their regular sports calendar. These activities for staff included competitive inter-company and inter-departmental outdoor activities, such as running, football and tap rugby and awareness sessions by doctors and nutritionists on the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise. 

Some of the Group companies opened up gymnasiums for the use of staff members and one company even initiated a weight loss challenge in the format of the popular reality TV series ‘The Biggest Loser’ to encourage staff maintain a healthy BMI range. Throughout the week, daily health and exercise tips were shared with the staff via the many electronic communication channels available within the Group and staff members have shared their progress through photos, on the Group’s Instagram profile, #lifeatJKH. 

John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) is the largest listed conglomerate on the Colombo Stock Exchange, with business interests primarily in Transportation, Leisure, Property, Consumer Foods and Retail, Financial services and Information Technology, among others. JKH is committed to maintaining integrity, sustainable development and greater social responsibility in a multi – stakeholder context. The Human Resource Vision of JKH is founded on three building blocks of Inspired People, Caring for People and Leadership, where people are inspired to be the best they can be. 

In this context the organisation supports and enables the efforts of its employees to maintain a healthy balance between work and the other important aspects of their lives based on their individual needs.

These opportunities provided to satisfy the employees’ quest for work life balance, range from sports, at a Mercantile level and Group level, creating forums to showcase their talents such as singing, dancing and acting, encouraging hobbies such as photography, to cooking and volunteering in Corporate Responsibility activities in the diverse areas the Group supports, spanning the length and breadth of Sri Lanka. 

Swimming 2015   

JKH shines brightly in the field of sports due to the opportunities and encouragement provided by the organisation to its sportsmen and sportswomen; the John Keells Group Sports Club which is directly under the purview of the Chairman of John Keells Group, and is run by an executive committee which comprise mainly of past and present sportsmen and women, have successfully fostered sports among its employees.

The Group annually organises inter-company tournaments for rugby, cricket, football, badminton, netball and swimming and employee participation with their families at these events have built the camaraderie between staff of its 77 businesses, which are geographically dispersed, within Sri Lanka and outside,  and have fostered a ‘one family’ environment.  Historically, John Keells has been known for its sports personnel and its leadership over the years has comprised of legends and well-known names in the sporting arena.  

There have been many outstanding sportsmen and women from John Keells, who have been members of National Teams; among its current employees are Dimuth Karunaratne, Shaminda Eranga and Milinda Siriwardena who currently play for the National Cricket Team; Roshane Silva who plays for the SLC ‘A’ team while Ishan Jayaratne, Janaka Gunaratne, Bhanuka Rajapakse and Kanishka Elvitigala have played for the SLC ‘A’ team in the recent past. 

Kanchana Ramanayake, Lavanga Perera, Hirantha Perera have represented the National Rugby team recently; Nishon Perera, Rehan Silva, Vimukthi Rahula, Reza Rafaideen, Sithum Peiris and Chamika Samarathunga were members of the under 21 National Rugby team while Alex Nishantha Chanaka and Dushanth Lewke represented the National Rugby team in the past. Thushan Dharmasena is a member of the current National Men’s Basketball team. 

In other sports, Ravihari De Silva was a Sri Lanka Badminton player, Dinukshi Kirthisinghe was a Tennis Junior Federation Cup player and Sanjay Weerakoon and Isuru Gunasekara have represented Sri Lanka in Tennis at the Davis Cup in the past. Kushani Daluwatte and Shivanthi Kotagehave been part of the National squad in Squash and Ridma Vithanage was a past National Swimmer.  

The Group also provides employment opportunities to sports professionals, so that they have an income while pursuing their careers in sports and gives them the simultaneous opportunity to gain work experience in the corporate sector. Further, the Group sponsors several sporting events annually, including the ‘Ceylon Cold Stores Challenge Trophy’ at Mercantile Hockey Tournaments. 

In the Mercantile Sports sphere, JKH has won the Mercantile Rugby 7s Championship on most instances since its inception.  The JKH Ruby “B” Team has secured first place in the ‘Bowl’ or ‘Plate’ Championship at the Mercantile Rugby 7s during the past four to five years, including winning the Bowl Championship in 2015. In cricket, JKH cricket have performed well in the mercantile cricket tournaments – the “A” team were runners up in2013 and 2014 in the Mercantile Premier Division Knock Out Tournament while the ‘B’ team was the champions of the Mercantile D Division Cricket Tournament in 2013. 

The Group’s Swimming team retained the overall runners up trophy in2015 for the fifth consecutive year and has won the overall championship titles for 4 consecutive years since the inception of the President’s Challenge Trophy in the year 2007. In 2015, Druvi Sirisena won the 104th Shakespeare Shield Golf Tournament, which is Sri Lanka’s oldest corporate competition for Golf. The Group’s newly-formed Men’s Hockey team became the Champions at the 39th Mercantile Hockey 7’s Tournament held in November 2015.