First SAARC Women Entrepreneur Awards
March 2nd at the Shangri-la Ballroom at 7pm.
Sri Lanka is soon to be the first country in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to hold the inaugural SAARC Women Entrepreneur Awards. Hosted by the SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneur
Council (SCWEC), the event aims to recognise the exemplary success of women entrepreneurs and to create strong role models to draw inspiration from.
Each of the SAARC countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), have chosen an overall entrant for the awards which will be held on March 2nd at the Shangri-la in Colombo. As well as attending the awards ceremony, female business leaders from SAARC with gather in Colombo for knowledge workshops with the aim of collectively being able to find fresh avenues to economic and societal challenges in the region. On February 14th, the SCWEC held a press conference to announce Sri Lanka’s entry into the awards, as well as the silver and bronze awardees. Lakmini Wijesundera received the gold prize for her company Board Pac. Silver was received by Samanthi Rathnayake of Lili Cheese, and bronze by Subathra Ramamoorthy of
Sindhu Garments. Chairperson of SCWEC
Rifa Musthapha said “the inaugural international award is affirmation and recognition of the trail blazing success of women entrepreneurs in our neighbouring countries. By giving them the spotlight, we are creating outstanding role models of themselves and their businesses which SCWEC wants to amplify in no uncertain times and help catalyse seamless cross border trade and investment”.
The Knowledge Forum to be held the day before the awards ceremony on the 1st of
March is to commemorate the International Women’s Day
by the Woman’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce
(WCIC). The Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce is a non-profit organisation of women in business, management and the professions with the vision to “Economically empower the women in Sri Lanka. We act as a powerful voice for change and a platform for improving the business environment of women entrepreneurs”.
In partnership with the World Bank, the Knowledge Forum is an invitation only event for women entrepreneurs and professionals and will be held under the theme of “Better the balance- Better the world”,
in keeping with the 2019 International Women’s Day Theme “Balance for Better”.
The forum will be made up of two panels.
The SAARC Women Entrepreneur of the Year Awards will be held on March 2nd at the ShangriLa Ballroom from 7pm. The most inspirational event of the year will also include the Aarth - Fashion, Food and Music Extravaganza which showcases fashion, art and music.