Munchee Nittambuwa Territory Sales Officer Dilanka Sandakal receives CBL Star Award from CBL Group Chairman Ramya Wickramasingha in the presence of Group Director/Head of Marketing and Sales Nandana Wickramage and Director/Group General Manager Sales I.M. Khan

Ceylon Biscuits Limited (CBL) held its Annual Distributor Convention and Star Awards Ceremony 2016/17 recently at Eagles’ Lakeside Banquet and Convention Hall, Attidiya. 

Conceptualized to felicitate the internal and external partners, this annual event is eagerly awaited by the stakeholders of CBL, as it marks the culmination of the joint efforts to sustain CBL’s leadership in the marketplace. 

The event is also organised to recognize and reward the outstanding contributions by its sales force and distributers, both locally and overseas. The event was attended by a large gathering, including board directors, overseas partners, distributers and special invitees.

Annual Distributor Convention and Star Awards Ceremony 2016/17 provided an ideal platform to showcase the company’s achievements in all aspects during the year. 

The distributors that received the Gold awards in recognition of the long-standing services were Sanjeewa Pushpa Kumara – Hewage Sons-Katugastota, Lalith Balasooriya – LB Distributers-Madampe, Ariyawansa Bandara Wijesinghe – Singhe Stores-Digana and Jayanth Amarasinghe – Amarasinghe Stores-Kegalle. 

The climax of  the  event  was  the  awarding of   the  CBL  Star, which went  to the  best  territory sales  officer among  the CBL sales  force,  which  is  considered  the  country’s largest in any fast-moving consumer goods company.

The CBL Star Award was presented to Dilanka Sandakal – Munchee territory sales officers (TSO) in Nittambuwa. He  was  also  the  winner  of  the  B range,  which  handles  the sales of biscuits. Whilst the range winners – Bandula Wijewardane – TSO Kandy, A range (chocolate and cakes) and in C range (Samaposha and Lankasoy), Charitha Gunawardane, TSO Pettah, were felicitated for their outstanding performances.

The winners of the Junior CBL Star awards were also announced at the event and  the  overall winner  was  A. Mohanappriyan, TSO  for  chocolates  and  cakes  in  Mannar. The junior winners are selected from TSOs with the service of less than two years in the company. People development is pursued at CBL and the employees can avail of numerous opportunities for rapid career progression in a knowledge-based workplace, where regular training and development initiatives offer a strategic competitive edge. 

Sanjaya Fonseka made a presentation on his career path at CBL. He began as a distributor sales representative. Thereafter, he  was  promoted  to  CBL  sales  representative and  then to  a  post  of Sales  Supervisor. After  rising  to  Area Sales  Manager, he  is  now  a  Field  Sales  Manager. His promotion to the post of Assistant Manager Modern Trade was announced at the event.
The  launch of  many  new and  innovative  products  was  also  featured  at  the  CBL  Annual  Distributor  Convention  and  Star  Awards  Ceremony as  part of the strategy  to  strengthen  its position  in the  market place. 

The event also reviewed the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities carried out during the year mainly including Hope, Munchee Tikiri Shishyadara, Munchee Samaga Gamata Sarana and CBL Govi Pawula. Many awards received in recognition of CBL’s CSR initiatives were also featured. 

The theme BRAVE – ‘courage to challenge the status quo for future growth’ was rightly selected for the year’s motto. BRAVE stands for Believe, Resourceful, Achieve, Victorious and Energized. Believe stands for Believing in yourself, brands and the power of the dream; Resourceful stands for resourcefulness in knowledge, skill and awareness; Achieve stands from achieving common goals and desires; Victorious is creating a victorious mindset for the team and Energized highlights the importance to stay energized. It  is  customary  for the   CBL  sales  force  to  select   a  theme  every  year    and  work  towards  the same.