The Annual Export Awards of the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) will be held on September 28, in the Main Ballroom of the ShangriLa Hotel, Colombo.
President of the NCE Ramal Jasinghe said that the 2018 event will confer special awards to encourage and motivate Branding and Value Addition.
He further states that in recognition of the linkages established between the Member companies of the Chamber and Producers in the North, the Chamber will be presenting special awards to producers & exporters establishing successful business linkages.
He also assures the credibility of the judging process and transparency in the selection of awards winners.
Senior Vice President and Chairman of the Event Sub Committee states Ramya Weerakoon, that the Chamber will take all necessary steps to make sure that the winners are highlighted and given due publicity during and after the event. She adds that Sri Lankan exporters who go through a very challenging journey, and reaching high standers and winning awards at the NCE Awards event is a great achievement.
The Secretary General of the Chamber Shiham Marikar, said that the NCE is the only private sector chamber that exclusively serves Sri Lanka exporters.
“We initiated this event in 1993 to fill a void which prevailed at the time, since the conduct of the Presidential Export Awards by the Export Development Board had been disrupted due to various reasons.”
It was initiated by the Founder President of the NCE the Late Deshabandu Patrick Amarasinghe.
At the outset the late Dr. Saman Kelegama who was a well-known Economist and Academic, as well as the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) played a valuable role in advising and guiding the Chamber related to the organization of the event to attract the attention of all stake holders engaged in the field of exports, and to motivate successful exporters to showcase their achievements by participating at the event.
First Executive Director of the Chamber, Rasa Weerasingham, through his commitment over the last two decades had been instrumental in developing this event, through continuous improvements to achieve its sustainability and recognition. The the main sponsor of the event Sri Lanka Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd has continued as the main sponsor to date.
Currently this event is attended by over 750 participant’s which includes the cream of the business community in Sri Lanka specially related to exports, the political leadership of the country, members of the diplomatic community, high level state officials, and special invitees.
The theme for the organization of the event each year revolves around some aspect of international trade, especially exports, which have a bearing on Sri Lanka. The conduct of the event of this year will be based on the “Oscars” in the USA.
A significant feature of the event are the changes that have been effected over the years related to its structure and content of its activities to reflect current trends in the field of international trade.
Accordingly there will be 28 main sectors of products and services related to exports as well as service providers to exporters, such as freight forwarders, couriers, banks, suppliers of raw materials, intermediate goods and packaging materials etc., to exporters inthese main sectors.
The 28 main sectors mentioned above comprehensively cover all products and services related to exports. A significant feature this year is the inclusion of three new sectors which are, tourism and related services, export of recycled products, and import substitution products based on the premise that a dollar saved through import substitution is good as a dollar earned through exports.
The Application form related to the event is itself an evolving living document which incorporates refinements and improvements to accommodate modern trends in International Trade.
The event is open for participation by member exporters of the Chamber as well as non-member exporters and service providers to exporters.
The selection of award winners is carried out by an independent professional panel of judges competent in the various aspects of exports.
Another special feature of the event is the engagement by the Chamber the services of the multinational audit firm Ernst & Young, to provide the required professional inputs to the panel of judges to ensure transparency and credibility of the entire selection process of award winners, which has enabled to benchmark this event related to its professionalism and high standard.
The event confers Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards to applicants who have achieved the required standard in all 28 sectors mentioned above. The “most outstanding exporter of the year” as well as the “most outstanding exporter Runner-up” of the year are selected out of the sectoral award winners. Another special feature of the event is the conferment of special awards to the most value added exporter, the three most innovative exporters, the best exporter of a Sri Lankan registered Brand, the best exporter in Emerging Markets, the best SME exporter, and the best Woman Exporter.
In this respect it is noteworthy that the Chamber has introduced this year, an additional special award to highlight export oriented enterprises who engage the services of ‘Disabled Persons’ related to their skills in the field of exports.
The Special Award for the “Best Woman Exporter” serves to recognize the achievements of Women in the field of exports and to encourage prospective Women Entrepreneurs in the field of exports, particularly because the participation of women in adequate numbers in productive economic development activities, by assuming leadership roles, is not adequate.
In this context it is noteworthy that some women member exporters of the Chamber have achieved immense successes in their respective fields. In this regard special mention needs to be made of Seetha Yahampath who has excelled in the Handloom Exports Sector, Mano Sheriff who has achieved success in the Soft Toys Exports Sector, and Lakmini Wijesundara who has achieved excellence in the ICT Sector and particularly exports of Software, which has hitherto been dominated by males.
This year the Chamber will also confer special awards to selected suppliers of export products by producers in the Northern Province, as well as to exporters who support them to export their products by purchasing such products from them, under a program implemented by the Chamber to link producers of agricultural and fisheries products in the Northern Province with exporters in the South.
This program is supported by the Sri Lanka Office of the International Labour Organization (ILO), since it also contributes to the reconciliation process of the Government between the peoples in the North and South of Sri Lanka.
Winning an award at this event by an exporter or a service provider to an exporter is of immense benefit since it enables the recipient of the award to gain international exposure and recognition among prospective overseas buyers to enable the development and expansion of export business.
Additionally award winners are provided a ‘Special Logo’ which they are entitled to incorporate for a period of three years from the date of winning an award in all their promotional and marketing material, along with the other information related to the winning of an award.
Past award winners have generously endorsed this event, highlighting the fact that it has enabled to benchmark their achievements in the international market place and has provided them exposure among prospective buyers to attract business.
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