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John Keells Praja Shakthi empowers women’s entrepreneurship

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John Keells Foundation together with Ceylon Cold Stores (Elephant House) had initiated John Keells Praja Shakthi in Ranala. John Keells Praja Shakthi is a sustainable community empowerment initiative centred around locations of identified businesses of the John Keells Group, led by John Keells Foundation and powered by active and sustained engagement of the respective businesses. Under this project the need for skill and capacity development and market access for the women entrepreneurs of Ranliya Women’s Society was identified as a development need in discussion with the Kaduwela Divisional Secretariat and the Batewela Grama Niladhari, and a training programme on producing paper products was launched.

Following the 2-month training and follow up support, 16 women from the ‘Ranliya Women’s Society of Batewela’ who were once limited to producing envelopes were equipped with knowledge on using the paper cutting machine effectively to produce a variety of paper products including bags, vesak lanterns, lunch boxes, etc.

“We were struggling especially after the COVID-19 outbreak, but when John Keells Foundation intervened and provided us a comprehensive training on how to use this machine, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. We were getting many orders and with the seed capital we started making Vesak lanterns ranging from ready-made models to do-it-yourself (DIY) lanterns. We produced more than 2000 lanterns, but the country went into a lockdown and we didn’t know what to do. However, John Keells Foundation supported us once again by promoting sales through their channels and we managed to sell 1,883 lanterns. We have been able to improve our business opportunities within a short period of time with their support” says Jeewani.

In the tourist hotspot of Hikkaduwa, Priyadarshini and a group of 11 other women-led batik artisans were struggling with no immediate tourists and income prospects to market their labour-intensive products ever since the Easter Sunday attacks and exacerbated by the pandemic. Once again, John Keells Praja Shakthi proved a lifeline to these struggling women entrepreneurs. Under the Hikkadwa programme, John Keells Foundation and Hikka Tranz by Cinnamon together with the Hikkaduwa Divisional Secretariat and the Academy of Design (AOD) initiated a programme to upskill and empower these women. 12 batik artisans from Ginthota, Galagoda and Thelwatte underwent a training supported by AOD after which they were guided to create upmarket Batik products under the unified brand of ‘HIKKA BATIKS’.



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Business

Share investors worried over Wealth and Heritage tax

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By Hiran H Senewiratne

CSE trading kicked off on a positive note yesterday but the momentum could not be sustained for long owing to investor worries that the government is planning domestic debt restructuring involving the imposition of a wealth and heritage tax on citizens, market sources said.

Amid those developments both indices moved downwards. The All -Share Price Index went down by 131 points and S and P SL-20 declined by 46.8 points. Turnover stood at Rs 3.4 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in Agalawattte Plantations, which crossed 45.3 million shares to the tune of Rs 1.5 billion, its shares traded at Rs 35, CTC 420,000 shares crossed for Rs 269 million and its shares traded at Rs 640, Cargills 100,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 24.5 million; its shares traded at Rs 245 and Hayleys 300,000 shares crossed for Rs 24 million; its shares traded at Rs 80.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, SLT Rs 234 million (two million shares traded), Hayleys RS 121 million (1.5 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 106 million (115,000 shares traded), Softlogic Capital Rs 69 million (5.6 million shares traded), CTC Rs 65.3 million (101,000 shares traded), Sampath Bank RS 54.7 million (one million shares traded) and Commercial Bank RS 52.5 million (801,000 shares traded).During the day 164 million share volumes changed hands in 20000 transactions.

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Brandix ‘RightToRead’ initiative gains momentum enriching Sri Lanka students and transforming learning

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Inspired by the challenge to provide Sri Lankan children with better access to learning materials and the transformative power to read and comprehend English, Brandix launched the ‘RightToRead’ project in 2018 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Accordingly, Brandix introduced the ‘ReadToMe’ English learning tool, created by English Helper – India, to improve reading and comprehension skills of Sri Lankan students. Last Monday, Julie Chung, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, visited Susamayawardhana Vidyalaya in Borella, to observe progress of the project and experience how children and educators in Sri Lanka engage with educational technology.

Brandix Lanka Limited, Director, Ajit Johnpillai, said: “Education is the most powerful tool to enrich communities and futures, and Brandix is committed to build a strong foundation for transformational learning for students across Sri Lanka. The progress we have made with RiteToRead over the past two years is promising, and the potential for change in the education sector harnessing such digital technologies is immeasurable. Brandix will continue its commitment to deliver Inspired Solutions for the people of Sri Lanka.”

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Dialog TV Boosts Resilience and Capacity with Norsat Satellite Earth Station

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Hytera, a leading global provider of professional communications technologies and solutions, is proud to announce the successful deployment of a new backup satellite station for Dialog TV, Sri Lanka’s No.1 satellite Pay TV service provider. The project was fulfilled in 2022 by Hytera and its subsidiary specialized in Satellite Communications (SatCom), Norsat International Inc. The new station enhances the resilience and capacity of Dialog TV’s existing system and ensures continuity of service in the event of damage due to natural disasters.
Dialog TV provides coverage over the entirety of Sri Lanka through the Intelsat 38 Ku-band satellite. As the business expanded, it opted for a backup solution to support its existing satellite station and to strengthen the network’s disaster tolerance.
Hytera and Norsat provided an end-to-end satellite earth station solution that includes the installation, integration, and setup of satellite antennas, a transmission and receiving system, a new network management system (NMS), and a carrier monitoring system (CMS). The NMS makes routine work easier and simpler for on-duty staff, as equipment status, parameter monitoring and configuration, and remote control of the devices can be viewed and accomplished via a single interface. The CMS monitors the carrier spectrum status of satellite signals in real-time and ensures stable signal transmission and receiving.
“We are excited to have been able to work with Dialog TV on this important project,” said Kevin Sun, Sales Director for Hytera South Asia, “Our ability to seamlessly integrate our new equipment and software with Dialog TV’s existing systems has helped to ensure a stable and reliable service for their millions of customers across Sri Lanka.”

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