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NCE’s
16th annual export awards in September
The National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) conducted
an Awareness Seminar in April for all prospective applicants
for Export Awards in connection with the 16th Annual NCE Export
Awards to be conducted in September 2008.
The keynote address was made by the President – NCE,
Rohan Fernando. He thanked the large number of representatives
of member and non-member companies present at the seminar.
Fernando stated that, apart from winning or losing, applicant
companies would have an opportunity to carry out a self assessment
of their export performance in 2007 and identify weak areas,
which needed attention, based on the evaluation made by the
independent Panel of Judges of eminent persons.
He added that all Award Winners could use information and
photographs of the Awards in their promotional materials for
3 years. This enables a company to earn recognition both locally
and internationally among buyers.
A PowerPoint presentation was made by L.S.G. Tillekeratne
(Director – Member Services and New Project of NCE) Chairman
of the Awards Committee, regarding the criteria used for evaluation
of the different product and service sectors and other important
aspects related to the application forms.
He explained that the main criteria, among others, encompasses
the following:-
Overall export performance, net foreign exchange earnings,
value addition, new products introduced to the export market,
diversification of markets and entry into new markets, proper
financial management, improvements in productivity, Sri Lankan
Brand, achievements in quality and standards, Corporate Social
Responsibilities (CSR) etc.
He also explained the basis of inclusion of products and services
under the different categories and the basis of calculation
of Net Foreign Exchange Earnings and Domestic Value Addition.
He added that the different product and service sectors will
be awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies and medals covering
the categories of small, medium, large and extra large enterprises.
Further, special awards would be given to the Best Woman Exporter,
Best Sri Lankan Brand Exporter, the 10 Most Outstanding Exporters
– sector-wise and the Most Outstanding Exporter of the
year.
This presentation was followed by the address of the Chairman,
Panel of Judges – Dr. Saman Kelegama (Executive Director,
Institute of Policy Studies). He shared with the participants
his experience regarding the process of judging last year.
He stated that the eight eminent members of the Panel of Judges,
who are specialists in their respective export fields such
as Marketing, Management and Financial, assess every application
professionally before finalising the winners. He added that
complete transparency is maintained as a result.
He added that there is no bias in the evaluation process as
specific sections in the application form. For e.g. Finance,
Marketing, etc. are marked by specialists of the particular
fields in the Panels of Judges.
At the end of the marking process, the marks allotted to the
different specific sections are collated and an overall assessment
is made by the entire Panel of Judges.
Nalin Attygalle, Past Chairman of the Panel of Judges stressed
the importance of the marketing and branding aspects related
to exports. He stated that these two areas are very important
in respect of both local and international markets.
Closing date for submission of Applications is June 10, 2008.
Applications could be downloaded from our website www.nce.lk.
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