Channa appointed as Chairman – Advisory Council on Wood Based Industries
Ministry of Industries & commerce has appointed Channa Wijesekara as the Chairman of the Advisory Council on Wood & Wood based Industries recently. He is currently the President of Wood & Wood Based Industrialists Association in Sri Lanka.
Wijesekara will head the advisory Council with the aim to improve and upgrade the wood and wood based products industry which contains a very high potential market in Sri Lanka. The main objective of setting out the Council is to prepare short, medium, long term plans and prepare strategies for implementation of such plans.
In addition, the Council will identify human, physical and capital resources and market linkages for the promotion of the industry. The Council will also provide advice to the Honurable Minister on any other area related to the promotion and development of the sector.
Channa Wijesekara is an incorporated Civil Engineering Diplomate, passed out from University of Moratuwa. The Entrepreneur turned writer, Wijesekara has written two books on ‘Basic
“The much hyped” HNB Best Speaker contest 2016 was held for the 7th consecutive year amongst a full house of staff members, their families and Toastmasters on 10th June 2016 at the HNB Auditorium adding many more stars to the HNB’s Speakers Lounge.
The gala event which attracted many toastmasters from the Sri Lankan fraternity was managed by the executive committee of the HNB Toastmasters Club. The wheels started rolling in April with preliminary contests being conducted on a regional basis. The preliminaries attracted 117 participants in two folds of the contest namely prepared speeches for 5 to 7 minutes and impromptu speeches for 2 minutes.
The first 3 winners of the 12 preliminary contests were looped in to two teams consisting of 18 per group for semi finals. Of the semi finalists the first 4 from each group were selected for the Grand Finale which was held on 10th June 2016.
After a tough competition, a new star emerged. Ms Damayanthi Punchihewa (HNB Piliyandala) won the competition Wood Technology’ in Sinhala and English, published by SMED, the umbrella organisation of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He has recently published another valuable book written on the usage of hand tools in carpentry and preparing to publish three more books on the subject.
Wijesekara became a qualified ‘ Wood technologist ‘ after successfully completing a two year full time ‘ Technical Teachers Certificate in Wood Technology ‘ in Germany. He also has completed the Diploma in Education Administration from Landau University in Germany. Subsequently, he was trained at Colombo Plan Staff College and Dual Tech in Manila.
Channa Wijesekara is the Founder Managing Director of Leema Creations ( Pvt ) Ltd, a leading interior solution provider and furniture manufacturer in Sri Lanka. whilst Arjun Landers (HNB Anuradhapura) and Ms Chrishni Athirshtakumar (HNB Aluthkade) were placed 1st and 2nd respectively in the Prepared Speech contest.
A R Henry (HNB Vavuniya) emerged the winner in the Impromptu category whilst Trevine Jayawardena (HNB-IT Department) and Nilan Kirihetti (HNB Head office branch) became the 1st and 2nd runners’ up respectively.
The occasion was graced by the Chief Operating Officer of HNB Dilshan Rodrigo as the Chief Guest and Chief Human Resource Officer of HNB Mrs. Chiranthi Cooray as the Guest of Honour. The presence of the First Vice President of Toastmasters International, Distinguished Toastmaster Arunasalam Balraj added much colour to the event. Past and present leaders of District 82 of Toastmasters International were present as well.