Hayleys wins ‘Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2016’

Hayleys PLC Chairman/CEO Mohan Pandithage receiving the award from Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy
Pic by Damith Wickramasinghe

Hayleys PLC emerged as the winner of the ‘Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2016,’ for the 5th year and won the ‘Grand Slam Award’. The annual event, which took place last night, was organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), to recognize sustainable champions of the local corporate world. Cargills (Ceylon) PLC and People’s Leasing & Finance PLC were awarded as the 1st and the 2nd runners-up of the competition, respectively.

Aitken Spence PLC; Cargills (Ceylon) PLC , Ceylon Biscuits Limited, Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC, Hatton National Bank, Hayleys PLC, John Keels Holdings PLC, People’s Leasing & Finance PLC, Sampath Bank PLC and Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC were recognized as the TOP TEN Corporate Citizens of the year In the meantime, Access Engineering PLC became the winner of the Category ‘B,’ which evaluates the performance of firms with an annual turnover of less than Rs. 15 billion. The Citizens Development Business Finance PLC and Link Natural Products (Pvt) Limited became the 1st and the 2nd runnersup of this category, respectively. Under the category awards, John Keels Holdings PLC, won an award for ‘Environmental Management’, Aitken Spence PLC won awards, respectively for its, ‘Environmental Integration’ and ‘Community Relations’ efforts, Ceylon Tobacco PLC won a category award under the ‘Environmental Value Addition,’ Hayleys PLC was recognized for its efforts in building ‘Employee Relations,’ Cargills (Ceylon) PLC was recognized for its performance in the areas of ‘Customer Relations’ and ‘Economic Contribution,’ Windforce (Pvt) Limited for its efforts shown in the area of ‘Financial Performance’ and National Development Bank was awarded for its sustainability efforts driving ‘Governance’ ‘Triple Bottom-line Awards’ were won by Aitken Spence PLC for its focus on ‘Planet’, Hayleys PLC for its focus on ‘People’ and Cargills (Ceylon) PLC for its focus on “Profit’. Meanwhile, Hayleys PLC became the sustainability champion of the ‘Diversified Sector’, People’s Leasing & Finance PLC became the winner of the ‘Finance Sector’, Ceylon Biscuits Limited won the award under the ‘Manufacturing Sector,’ Access Engineering became the sustainability champion in the ‘Construction Sector,’ and Singer ( Sri Lanka ) PLC won the award under the sector awards for ‘Other’. Hatton National Bank PLC won an award for the ‘Best Presented Application’. Under the ‘Best Project Sustainability Awards 2016’, Ceylon Biscuits won an award for its project on ‘Farmer Contribution to the Local Economy,’ Citizens Development Business Finance PLC for its project on “Green House Gas Emission Analysis,’ Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC for its project titled ‘Formula Student,’ HSBC for its ‘Ecological Restoration’ project in Anuradhapura and Premium Exports Ceylon Limited for its project on the ‘Biomass Boiler and Spent Tea Dryer’. Fonterra Brands Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Insee Cement, Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC, Ceylon Tobacco Company and CITI Bank won merit certificates for their sustainability efforts. Meanwhile, delivering the welcome address at the event, CCC Chairperson Samantha Ranatunga said, “This event has over the years become a much looked forward to event in the Corporate Calendar of Sri Lanka. This augurs well for the country as it is an indication of the maturity of the business community and their sense of responsibility”. He also stressed on the important role, the corporate entities should play to help create sustainability and mitigate environmental disasters. “Climate change, pollution, population growth, urbanization, and the scarcity of natural resources are posing challenges to the world. Negligent corporate behaviour, too has contributed to environmental disasters such as pollution, fire, water contamination and oil spills globally. We need to find answers to these urgent questions and find them fast,” Ranatunga added. Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy graced the occasion as the ‘Guest of Honour’ while Uchita De Soyza, Sustainable Development Advisor of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Wildlife delivered the keynote address. ‘The Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2016,’ was held for the 13th year, and the applications were subjected to a rigorous evaluation and a judging process by a highly competent panel of evaluators and judges.