North and East women, differently abled to shine at SLEY awards 2012

Sri Lanka Entrepreneur of the Year awards scheduled for the 17th year will recognize two new categories namely the differently-abled and the women of the North and East.

The Differently Abled Entrepreneur of the year and the Emerging Woman Entrepreneur from the North and East Awards have been added from this year, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry(FCCISL) President Kumar Mallimarachchi said.

In addition this year they would be engaging the Ranaviru Seva Authority to participate and Oxfam to select the ‘Emerging Women’ entrepreneur. The latter category would be selected from Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts that have been functioning for more than a year.

The awards will be given to local companies that have operated for a minimum of five years with a major shareholding power from around the country in the micro and small, medium, large and extra large categories based on their Financial Year ending March 31, 2012.

Industries and Commerce Ministry Secretary Anura Siriwardena addressing the gathering at the launch , said entrepreneurship meant taking risks.

He said the annual awards were meant to reward and innovate, those contributing towards the national economy and it was pointed out that the government needs to cooperate with the private sector in achieving their goals. This year’s theme is “It’s time to walk among the stars” with the view that the prospective and emerging entrepreneurs are worthy enough of standing beside the past platinum winners of this prestigious award, and now it’s their time to be side by side of these starts in the corporate world, a media release stated.

The event is staged at two levels, provincial and national. The provincial awards will comprise nine gold awards for the nine provinces, 36 silver awards comprising four awards each for the nine provinces in the small, medium, large and extra large categories. Two bronze awards each in the four categories adding up to a total of 72 for the nine provinces and a total number of 117 provincial awards, the release said.

It added that national awards will be made with an overall platinum award winner followed by awards for four gold, eight silver and 12 bronze in the Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large categories with a total of 25 awards.

Each special award category will carry three awards per province as winner, first runner up and second runner up and five merit certificates at the provincial level. National level, winner, first runner up, second runner up and five certificates will be awarded based on the total marks obtained, the release added.