Sri Lanka bags unique award at Australia’s largest ICT business event

Sri Lanka’s ICT business delegation facilitated by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) bagged a unique award at CeBIT Australia, Australia’s number one business technology event 28– 30 May 2013. 

“The award was presented in appreciation of Sri Lanka’s participation in  CeBIT Australia with  a Sri Lanka pavilion that attracted  a large number of potential business partners and investors,” ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura, who formed part of the delegation, said. 

The award   was presented by Australia’ s New South Wales State Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner at the fairground in Sydney on Wednesday 29th ultimo.

The Sri Lanka pavilion that ICTA organised in Sydney from 28th to 30th ultimo was   the third consecutive pavilion that ICTA showcased Sri Lanka at CeBIT Australia. 

The Sri Lankan delegation included 15 IT/BPO companies and 12 of them took part in the CeBIT Exhibition. These 12 companies are DesignSoft Technologies,  Eyepax, Fidenz, Fossmart, hSenid Business Solutions, i-Context, Just In Time Group ,Peercore IT,SAKS, Sterling BPO Solutions, tekMAZ,  zMessenger. 

Coinciding with the mission an Expat Network Forum (ENF) was held in Sydney and Melbourne. In Sydney a Business Networking Forum was also  held parallel to the ENF. The delegation said that the mission provided tremendous visibility into the capabilities and sophistication of the Sri Lanka IT/BPO industry

The Sri Lankan companies showcased their products and services under the Sri Lankan pavilion organised by ICTA under its Private Sector Development Programme. The participant Sri Lankan companies were very happy with the arrangements made and quite positive about their prospects of future businesses consequent upon the event. 

“This mission included learning and networking opportunities, product showcases, inspiration and innovation,” Duminda Jayathilake-Director tekMAZ private limited who was in the delegation said. 

“The attendees were impressed with the Sri Lankan service offerings and the cutting edge solutions displayed by the Sri Lankan companies,” Chim Himidumage, CEO  of  Fidenz explained.   

Caption (6942)
Sri Lanka pavilion at CeBIT Australia

Caption (Award)
Plaque  of the award  presented by Deputy  Premier New South Wales, Australia  Andrew Stoner  at CeBIT Australia in Sydney on 29th May  2013

http://www.icta.lk/en/icta/90-general/1307-sri-lanka-bags-unique-award-at-australias-largest-ict-business-event.html

E Governance SAARC Summit

‘Nenasala’ operator wins Global Telecenter Award in Spain

A rural ‘Nenasala’ operator from Sri Lanka bagged the best tele-centre manager award at the recently concluded Global Telecenter Awards in Spain.   

Owner / Manager of ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) – initiated Sooriyawewa Nenasala in Hambantota, Deepika Priyadharshanee won this prestigious award beating 60 tele-centre operators around the world. 

Deepika marked her latest first when she won the award as the best telecentre manager at the Global Telecentre Awards (GTA) held in Granada, Spain on Tuesday (29). Organised by  Telecentre.org Foundation (TCF) and co-presented by the National Information Society Agency of Korea (NIA) and Microsoft Corporation, as a cynosure of ‘The Spark 13 conference,’ the ceremony put a spotlight on nine winners.

“At a time when women entrepreneurs are much in demand for playing a substantial role in world development, especially among developing countries,  Deepika Priyadarshani has set a valuable example,” ICTA Chairman Prof P W Epasinghe says.  

“The  Nenasalas (wisdom outlets), the yields of a brainchild of   His Excellency  President Mahinda Rajapaksa set the turning point in making the benefits of ICT  reach a wider spectrum of people .  The award that Deepika  won proves that Sri Lankans are capable of  great things, given proper guidance, as  has been provided by ICTA under e-Sri Lanka”. ICTA Chairman added. 

Among the overwhelming responses received for GTA 2013 under its six categories, the Telecentre Manger category had received the highest number of entries.  This was over 60.  Deepika was awarded the Best Telecentre Manger award. This was in recognition of her contribution in delivering the benefits of ICTs to the community in Sooriyawewa and enhancing the quality of life of the people of her village. The award was presented by the Managing Director, Telecentre.org Foundation Miguel Raimilla.  

Accepting the award, Deepika thanked Telecentre.org Foundation for organising the First Global telecentre Awards.  She  thanked ICTA for giving her the opportunity to become a Telecentre Manger. She  was also profusely thankful for  ICTA  for providing funding, guidance and support for setting-up a Nenasala in her village eight years ago. "This award is not only mine. This award will celebrate all the hard-working Nenasala managers and operators in my country," Deepika told the audience at the world awards ceremony.

This first Global Telecentre Awards aims to recognise the best of the best in the international telecentre stage in the following six specific categories: Telecentre, Telecentre Manager, Telecentre Network, Telecentre Innovation, Telecentre Initiative, and Information Access Centre.

Winners for each category are as follows:

Grand Winners

• Best Telecentre: Volgograd State Agricultural University, Russia

• Best Telecentre Manager:  Gurusinghe Arachchige Deepika Priyadharshanee, Sri Lanka

• Best Telecentre Network: Philippine Community e-Center Network, Philippines

• Best Telecentre Innovation: eBario Innovation Village, Malaysia

• Best Telecentre Initiative: Ayni Bolivia – Ch@ski Program, Bolivia

• Best Information Access Center: Bangladesh Korea IAC, Bangladesh

Global Community’s Choice 

• Best Telecentre: Volgograd State Agricultural University, Russia

• Best Telecentre Manager: Linda Navarro Balbuena, Philippines

• Best Telecentre Network: Philippine Community e-Center Network, Philippines

• Best Telecentre Initiative: Conecta Joven of Esplai Foundation, Spain

• Best Telecentre Innovation: eBario Innovation Village, Malaysia

• Best Information Access Center: Jordan-Korea IAC, Jordan

Caption
Gurusinghe Arachchige Deepika Priyadharshanee with other winners at the GTA donning a traditional sari.

Caption
G.A.D.Priyadarshani at her work table at the Sooriyawewa Nenasala

Caption
Children using the facilities at the Sooriyawewa Nenasala

This article is carried in Daily FT and Daily News of 31st May 2013.
http://www.ft.lk/2013/05/31/nenasala-operator-wins-global-telecenter-award-in-pain/
http://www.dailynews.lk/2013/05/31/bus04.asp

2013 වසරේ ස්පාඤ්ඤ යේ ග්‍රනේඩා හි පැවැත්වූ ලෝක ටෙලිමධ්‍යස්ථාන පිළිබඳ ගෝලීය සමුළුවේදී (ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ටෙලිමධ්‍යස්ථාන) සූරියවැව නැණසල සම්මානයට පාත්‍ර වෙයි.

2013 වසරේ ස්පාඤ්ඤ යේ ග්‍රනේඩා හි පැවැත්වූ ලෝක ටෙලිමධ්‍යස්ථාන පිළිබඳ ගෝලීය සමුළුවේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නියෝජනය කරමින්, හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සූරියවැව නැණසලේ කළමණාකාරිණී ජී. ඒ. දීපිකා ප්‍රියදර්ශනී මහත්මිය “හොඳම ටෙලිසෙන්ටර් කළමාණාකරු“ සම්මානයෙන් පිදුම් ලැබූ වගයි.

ටෙලිමධ්‍යස්ථාන සඳහා ජාත්‍යන්තර තලයේ අනන්‍යතාවක් ලබාදීමට සහ ග්‍රාමීය ප්‍රජාවට තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ පිළිබඳව විශීෂ්ඨ සේවාවන් ලබා දීම පිළිබඳ දිරිමත් කිරීම සහ ඔවුන්ගේ විශිෂ්ඨ ක්‍රියාකාරීත්වයන් ඇගයීමේ මුඛ්‍ය පරමාර්ථය ඇතිව කලාපීය ටෙලිමධ්‍යස්ථාන ජාලයේ ද සම්බන්ධතාවයත් සමඟ ටෙලිසෙන්ටර් පදනම සහ ස්පාඤ්ඤයේ ස්පාර්ක් කමිටුව විසින් සිව්වන ගෝලීය සමුළුව සංවිධානය කරන ලදී.

කාණ්ඩ 06 අතුරින් “හොඳම නැණසල කළමණාකරු“  සම්මානය සඳහා අයදුම්කරුවන් 60ක් අතුරින් ඉතාමත් විශිෂ්ඨ අන්දමින් මෙම සම්මානය හිමිකරගැනීමට සූරියවැව නැණසල කළමණාකාරිනී දීපිකා ප්‍රියදර්ශනී සමත් වූවාය. ඇය තම නැණසල මධ්‍යසථානය හරහා සූරියවැව ප්‍රාදේශයේ ජනතාවට තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ දැනුම මනා ලෙස ලබා දෙමින් ප්‍රජාවගේ ජීවන තත්වය නගා සිටුවීම සඳහා ඇය තම නැණසල මධ්‍යස්ථානය හරහා කරන ලද විශිෂ්ඨ සේවාව මෙහිදී කාගේත් පැසසුමට භාජනය විය.

ටෙලිසෙන්ටර් පදනමේ අධ්‍යක්ෂක, මිගුවෙල් රිමිලා මහත්මා විසින් “හොඳම ටෙලිසෙන්ටර් කළමාණාකරු“ සඳහා සම්මානය ඇයට පිරිනමන ලදී.

මෙවන් සම්මාන උළෙලක් සංවිධානය කිරීම පිළිබඳ ටෙලිසෙන්ටර්.ඕර්ග් පදනමට ස්තූති කල දීපිකා, තමන් ටෙලි මධ්‍යස්ථාන හිමිකාරිනියක බවට පත්කල ශ්‍රී ලංකා තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ නියෝජිතායතනයටද සිය අවංක හෘදයාංගම ස්තූතිය පිරිනැමුවාය. සම්මානය ලබා ගනිමින් ඇය තව දුරටත් පවසා සිටියේ මෙය තමන්ගේ සම්මානයක් පමණක් නොව, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිටින කැපවීමෙන් සිය සේවය ඉටු කරන සමස්ථ නැණසල සේවක ප්‍රජාවටම ලද සම්මානයක් බවයි.