Date | Inaugural event was held on 2 November 2021 |
---|---|
Location | Colombo |
Awards | Top 10 Places to Work for Women |
Women Friendly Workplace Awards (shortened to WFWA Awards), is Sri Lanka's first-ever gender equality accolade. It recognises public and private organisations that encourage and empower women at the workplace in Sri Lanka. It was inaugurated in 2021, with it first being held on 2 November 2021, at the Cinnamon Grand. It was initiated by Satyn Magazine and AICPA & CIMA [1] [2]
WFWA 2022 was held on the 30 September, at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo.
The inaugural award show was held on 2 November 2021 at Cinnamon Grand, at the Atrium Lobby. The Top Ten winners were AIA, CBL, Commercial Bank, London Stock Exchange Business Services, NSB, People's Bank, Seylan Bank, DFCC, HNB Assurance, and LOLC.
Following which Honourable Mentions were awarded to NDB, SDB, Acuity Knowledge Partners, Bio Foods and WNS Global Services.
The Chief Guest was Ms. Sarah Twigg (Programme Manager – Women in Work – Sri Lanka at IFC), and the Guest of Honour was Ms Farzana Jameel PC (Senior Additional Solicitor General of the Attorney General's Department).
The panel of judges included – Ravi Abeysuriya, Manohari Abeysekera, Dumindra Ratnayaka, Prof. Arosha Adikaram, Jeevan Thyagarajah, Zahara Ansary and Nayomini R. Weerasooriya.
The awards aimed to help achieve Sri Lanka's commitment to 5 SDG; which aims to provide women equal rights and opportunities, including the right to live free without discrimination, this includes workplace discrimination, and any other sort of violence.
WFWA commenced its 2nd edition, starting off with an networking and learning event, which was held on 25 March 2022 at Hotel Ramada, Colombo. The event panel consisted of Ms. Avanthi Colombage, Ms. Sandra De Zoysa, Ms Ananya Sabharwal, Ms. Sarah Twigg, and Nayomini R. Weerasooriya. [1]
The 2nd edition of the WFWA was held on 30 September, at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo.
The Panel of Judges, was headed by Prof. Arosha Adikaram - Chair Professor in HR Management, University of Colombo. The other Judges were Ken Vijayakumar - President CIPM Sri Lanka & DGM – HR at Baurs, Zahara Ansary - Country Manager, for CIMA in Sri Lanka, Dr. Beshan Kulapala - Tech Entrepreneur and Nayomini R. Weerasooriya - Founder/Editor of Satyn Magazine.
WFWA 2023 edition was officially launched on March 1 2023, jointly presented by Satyn Magazine and AICPA & CIMA. [3] The presentation of a Paper on 'Good Practices for Women that sheds light on the Status of Women in the Sri Lankan Workplace', marked the launch of the 2023 edition. [4]
Year | Award | Winner |
---|---|---|
2021 | Top 10 Places to Work for Women | AIA, CBL, Commercial Bank, [5] DFCC, [6] HNB Assurance, LOLC, London Stock Exchange Business Services, NSB, People's Bank and Seylan Bank. [7] |
Honourable Mentions | Acuity Knowledge Partners, NDB, SDB, Bio Foods and WNS Global Services. | |
Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (CBC) also known as ComBank is a licensed commercial bank in Sri Lanka and its ownership is private. It was incorporated as a public limited company and it is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It is regarded as the largest private bank in Sri Lanka in terms of net worth and capital. The bank is currently the third largest bank in Sri Lanka in terms of total net assets and it lies behind only Bank of Ceylon and People's Bank. It is also the only private sector licensed bank in Sri Lanka to be designated as the higher-tier domestic systemically important bank according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The bank currently operates a network of 268 branches and around 932 ATM machines across Sri Lanka.
North Western Province is a province of Sri Lanka. The province consists of the districts of Kurunegala and Puttalam. Its capital is Kurunegala, which has a population of 28,571. The province is known mainly for its numerous coconut plantations. Puttalam, Kuliyapitiya, and Chilaw are the other major cities in the North Western Province. The majority of the population of Wayamba province is of Sinhalese ethnicity. There is also a substantial Sri Lankan Moor minority around Puttalam and Sri Lankan Tamils in Udappu and Munneswaram. Fishing, prawn farming and rubber tree plantations are other prominent industries of the region. The province has an area of 7,888 km2, and a population of 2,370,075.
The Kingsbury, trading as The Kingsbury PLC, formerly the Ceylon Continental Hotel Colombo and the Ceylon Inter-Continental Hotel, is a nine-story hotel located at 48, Janadhipathi Mawatha in the city centre of Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was built by U. N. Gunasekera, and is owned by Hotel Services (Ceylon) PLC, which is a subsidiary of Hayleys PLC. It was refurbished and reopened in January 2013.
Don Harold Stassen Jayawardena, known as Harry Jayawardena, is a Sri Lankan industrialist. He is chairman of Melstacorp PLC and is the Honorary Consul General for Denmark in Sri Lanka. Forbes listed him as one of the richest people in Sri Lanka.
Deshmanya Deshabandu Jeewaka Lalith Bhupendra Kotelawala was a Sri Lankan businessman, who was the chairman of Ceylinco Consolidated and also was the founding chairman of Seylan Bank. He was listed in the 2007 Sri Lanka Richest List. He was remanded for the misappropriation of 26 billion rupees of investments from the failed Golden Key Credit Card Company .
People's Bank is a state-owned commercial bank in Sri Lanka. The second largest commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Established on 1 July 1961, it has its head-offices at Sir Chittampalam A. Gardiner Street in Colombo. The bank offer both retail and corporate banking services, with a network of 739 local branches, service centers and has an asset base of LKR 1.873 trillion (2019) with over 14 million customers. People's Bank received a high national long-Term Rating of AA+ by Fitch Rating. People's Bank most awarded state-owned company such as "Green Plus" "Carbon Conscious Award". People's Bank became Sri Lanka's best performing bank. Bank mainly targets small and medium enterprise. India has extended multiple credit lines and currency support to Sri Lanka, aligning with its policy of prioritizing neighboring nations and fostering strong relationships as a friendly neighboring country.
Anoka Primrose Pelpola Ekanayake Abeyrathne, also known as Anoka Abeyratne, is a Sri Lankan conservationist, award-winning social entrepreneur, and activist on sustainable development issues who served as the Asia-Pacific representative to United Nation Habitat YAB. She is the elected Environment Lead of the Royal Commonwealth Society. In 2019, Abeyrathne appeared in the list of "Iconic Sri Lankan Women Who Have Shaped History" with relative UN Human Rights awardee Sunila Abeysekera and featured as one of the 5 Young Women Changing the World in 2023. She is the current Royal Commonwealth Society regional coordinator for Asia.
Union Bank of Colombo PLC, commonly referred to as UBC, is a commercial bank in Sri Lanka. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the central bank and national banking regulator.
Tharjini Sivalingam is a former Sri Lankan veteran netball player and former skipper of the Sri Lankan national netball team. With her staggering height of 206 cm or a fraction under 6 ft 9in, she has been recognized as one of the most successful shooters of all time and often regarded as the tallest netball player ever. She is the most capped international netball player to represent Sri Lanka. She was a regular member of Sri Lankan netball team in international netball tournaments since making her debut in 2009. She is well known for her unusually tall height and considered one of the marquee players in Sri Lankan netball history. She also faced many hardships in her childhood as she grew up in warzone.
LOLC Holdings PLC is a Sri Lankan conglomerate listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). Originally starting as a non-banking financial company LOLC has grown into one of the largest Sri Lankan conglomerates involved in many sectors and subsidiaries in several countries although it is still mainly involved in the financial sector.
Melanie Janine Kanaka, also known as Melanie Kanaka, is a Sri Lankan management accounting professional and business personality. She is the current Global President of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and also serves as the current head of Finance and Administration at the World Bank in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. In June 2022, she was appointed as the President of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
LMD, formerly known as Lanka Monthly Digest, is an English language Sri Lankan business magazine. The magazine is owned by Media Services (Pvt) Ltd and was first issued in August 1994. The magazine is available in print and online versions. Hiran Hewavisenti is the magazine's editor-in-chief. LMD derives its revenue through both advertising and subscription fees. Monthly circulation is about 5,000 while monthly readership is around 30,000-40,000. The magazine has a subscriber base of about 1,800. Living and Discover Sri Lanka are the sister publications of the magazine.
Satyn is an English Language Sri Lankan, monthly women's lifestyle magazine, that focuses on women's entrepreneurship, beauty, health, and fashion, first published in December 1998. It was in print from 1998 to 2007, following which Satyn went completely online.
Nilani Ratnayake also spelt as Nilani Rathnayake or Nilani Rathnayaka is a Sri Lankan steeplechaser. She is the first and only Sri Lankan female steeplechase runner ever in history to have completed running the 3000 meters steeplechase in less than under 10 minutes. She is currently attached with the Sri Lanka Army.
WFWA may also refer to:
Union Assurance PLC is an insurance company in Sri Lanka. Union Assurance was founded in 1987 and was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in the following year. In 2009, John Keells Holdings acquired a controlling stake in the company. The company divested its general insurance business to Fairfirst Insurance and focused on life insurance in 2015. The company was a constituent of Forbes Asia's Best Under a Billion list in 2018. Union Assurance is one of the LMD 100 companies in Sri Lanka. The company is also one of the 100 most valuable brands in Sri Lanka.
Darshan Ravindra Abeysuriya also popularly known as Ravi Abeysuriya was a Sri Lankan accountant, educator and financial analyst. He was regarded as one of the topmost finance sector professionals in Sri Lanka. He was also considered as officially the first Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder in Sri Lanka. He also served as the President of the Colombo Stock Brokers Association for a brief stint.