Nalaka Umagiliya wins the prestigious TOYP 2013 Award !

Nalaka Umagiliya, Vice President - John Keells Holdings PLC was among the jubilant ten outstanding young Sri Lankans who received their Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Sri Lanka (TOYP) awards at the gala JCI TOYP awards ceremony, held at “The Balmoral”, Kingsbury in Colombo on 25th September 2013. Nalaka has won this award in recognition of his valuable contribution in the realm of “Scientific and/ or Technological Development” which have satisfied the judges and auditors who worked on an arduous selection criteria. The scope of the awarding, which has been compartmentalized into ten different areas, encompasses the whole gamut of human endeavors aimed at improving the living conditions of human beings in the world, ranging from community development, Art and social impact by using technology. Contenders for the award should have demonstrated their social responsibility and should have improved themselves through participation, leadership and effective action which can inspire tousands of young men and women in Sri Lanka and the world.

Junior Chamber International Sri Lanka ( JCISL) organizes the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Sri Lanka Awards annually and this is the 33rd such annual event. The JCISL is the Local Branch of Junior Chamber International ( JCI), the world’s largest Youth Leadership Development Organization. JCISL has immensely contributed towards enhancement and recognition of youth talent in Sri Lanka. The TOYP Programme is one such programme conducted by JCISL towards that end and it recognizes ten outstanding young individuals between the ages 18 - 40 for their exemplary personal and professional achievements.

Nalaka is a seasoned and a dynamic IT/Business executive with a proven track record of successfully implementing many of the technology related industry firsts in Sri Lanka. He has also managed to achieve continuous process excellence with very strong Project/ Change Management skills for large scale and very complex software and ERP (SAP) implementation projects across several industries including Re t a i l , Consumer Foods Manufacturing, Warehousing and Distribution.

He has a BSc in Information Systems, MSc. in Information Technology from University of Keele, United Kingdom and Master of Arts in International Relations from University of Colombo. He is a Member of British Computer Society, Chartered Information Technology Professional ( UK), Member of the Australian Computer Society and a Member of Project Management Institute, USA. In addition, he is qualified in many industry and vendor certifications.

Nalaka has the unique ability to achieve optimum confluence between Business and Technology both at the strategic and operational levels. Over the past 15 years he has successfully positioned Information Technology as a strategic business driver in every industry he’s been involved in.

Nalaka is also considered a thought leader in e- Commerce and m-Commerce in Sri Lanka by being instrumental in launching the first ever e- commerce and m- commerce enabled online super stores in Sri Lanka. Nalaka has thorough process knowledge in Retail, Loyalty, Warehousing, Consumer Foods Manufacturing, Sales Force Automation and Distribution domains. Nalaka is a consistent innovator who has delivered many Technology Firsts in his journey of riding the technology evolution ahead of the curve in Sri Lanka and that journey has triggered new ways and possibilities of changing the customer experience and the way we do business with timely adoption of technology while creating value and growth in the releted Industries in Sri Lanka.

Nalaka also carries the unique distinction of being the only, two time recipient of the prestigious Chairman’s award at John Keells Holdings PLC, Sri Lanka.

Winners who receive the TOYP award will be recognized internationally through the worldwide community of young active citizens. This prestigious event honours young people who have reached the heights of progress in numerous human endeavours thereby serving as an example to other young people in the country and encouraging and inspiring them to follow suit, and help them realize their dreams and visions for the future. Winners of TOYP Sri Lanka are nominated to compete for the Regional and World TOYP programmes, organized by the JCI each year.

The global presence of JCI, spans over 115 countries and the TOYP programme is a brainchild of Mr. Durwood Howes, president of the JCI USA and was adopted by USA Jaycees in 1952. The TOYP pro - gramme was first intro - duced in Sri Lanka in 1980 and it has now been constitutionalized as the main Community, PR/media project of JCISL and it is the most respected youth recognition award in Sri Lanka. and over 1,500 professional members, respectively. The regional institute has always campaigned for greater recognition and excellence in the marketing profession in Sri Lanka, through education, training and development.

For more information about the forum please contact The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region on + 94 112 564860