From left- Sanath Senanayake, Pradeep Edward , Dehan Seneviratne, Niranjan Manickam, Prasantha Fernando, Thilan Perera 


Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) awarded certificates to a batch of sales professionals from HNBA who successfully completed the Diploma in Professional Selling (DPS) at the annual convocation held at Hotel Samudra, SLTB auditorium recently.

This was the fifth consecutive year in which SLIM, the national body for marketing, partnered with HNBA, one of the leading Insurance services providers, for this Corporate Education Project which enhances the talents of sales professionals with its content and by receiving a valuable cobranded certificate which is recognized island-wide. W E H Perera was selected as the Best Student from a batch comprising more than 50 graduates who followed an extensive curriculum during the one year course duration. 

The Best Student and the First Runner up, J A Ruwinda Niroshan were awarded full scholarships. Lecturing was facilitated for this programme by Sudath Perera- National Sales Training & Development Manager-Life, HNB Assurance PLC and Jehan Haniff- National Sales Training & Development Manager-General, HNB Assurance PLC

“We launched this corporate education programme in 2011 and so far it has contributed to improved performance of companies in various industries such as Insurance, PharMa, FMCG, Mobile Telecommunications and Banking. With this level of success, we are steadily realizing our vision for the programme which is to contribute to the Sri Lankan economy in a meaningful way,” said SLIM President Ruwan Liyanagamage.

Special invitees included Chief Guest Dehan Seneviratne, Chairman - Board of Study SLIM and Niranjan Manikkam- CEO HNB Assurance. Pradeep Edward, Secretary SLIM,  Sanath Senanayake, Chief Executive Officer / Executive Director of SLIM, Mihirinie Fonseka- Head of Business Development and Gayan Maldeniya- Manager Education graced the occasion.

The CEO, Niranjan Manikkam said, ”Through the solid relationship we have built for the past five years, HNB Assurance has always endured to instill a strong service and sales oriented culture amongst our employees, facilitating a pathway to enhance their career and personal development, I am pleased to announce that the organisation, together with SLIM has developed a customized diploma programme for our Sales Force, creating a structured method for them to grow and expand their roles within the company. 

“Through this programme we have delivered accelerated professional development of the staff of a wide range of companies over the past few years. The unique aspect of this programme is that it includes customised education for individual companies and the company performance is embedded into the project, thereby guaranteeing positive results,” said SLIM - Secretary, Pradeep Edward at the event.

The two most sought after programmes in the Corporate Education programme are DPS and Preliminary Certificate in Marketing (PCM) and successful completion of each programme provides a pathway for employees to pursue postgraduate qualifications and further enhance their career prospects. Fonterra and HNB Assurance, two of the oldest partners, have been reaping the rewards of this highly acclaimed project for over 4 years, while Unilever, Harcourts, Nations Trust Bank (NTB), C. W. Mackie and Janashakthi are among the other partners. Qualifying in Diploma in Professional Selling, will open new vistas in the education path of HNB Assurance staff. This qualification will enable and empower them to progress to the National Diploma in Sales Management (NDSM) with exemptions, which will be commenced in a few weeks’ time at the same premises. It will also enable them to acquire the Postgraduate Diploma qualification of SLIM. 

“It is pleasing to have built a solid relationship with an Insurance Industry giant like HNB Assurance over the past four years. We have been successful in developing the staff of HNBA into well-trained sales professionals who are geared with the necessary skills and equipped with the right knowledge to serve the diverse and demanding requirements of the industry,” said SLIM CEO /Executive Director, Sanath Senanayake.