Jagath Pathirane, CEO & Director, EFL Sri Lanka with his team at National Business Excellence Awards 2019

Leading global logistics provider Expolanka Freight (Pvt) Ltd (EFL) won big securing two awards at the National Business Excellence Awards (NBEA) 2019 held at the Hilton Colombo on 13 December.

EFL won for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental Sustainability and the runner-up award for the Logistics & Transport sector in the Business Sector segment of the ceremony.

The 16th annual NBEAs organised by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), saw 92 awards being presented to leading corporates as well as small and medium enterprises that excelled in their respective business ventures, across 29 industry sectors.

This year’s awards used an evaluation model of seven criteria: namely, Excellence in Leadership, Corporate Governance, Capacity Building, Performance Management, Local and Global Market-reach, CSR and Environmental Sustainability and Business & Financial Results.

The evaluations were carried out by an eminent panel of judges backed by a technical team.
Speaking to the media, EFL Sri Lanka CEO & Director, Mr. Jagath Pathirane said the company, as one of the top freight forwarders in the country as well as globally, was very proud of its achievement. 

“CSR and Sustainability is about demonstrating our values beyond the confines of the company. It is about being responsible citizens and being involved in the communities to which we belong. It is a collective and individual commitment to improving the cultural, social and physical environment in which we live and work. The wellbeing of our communities is an important aspect and goes beyond our business,” said Sabrina Yusoof, Global Lead – CSR and Sustainability of EFL.

EFL’s CSR mission has transformed into a progressive sustainability agenda that envisions a community of responsible and educated employees who are environmentally conscious, practice social responsibility in their daily lives and inspire others to do the same, she added.

In July 2018, Expo revamped its CSR & Sustainability strategy by adopting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), which was followed by the launch of an internal initiative called EFL Global Goodness in 2019. The goal behind both initiatives is to encourage all members of the EFL family to participate in projects that benefit business, surrounding communities, and most importantly the environment, while also aligning them to the four main SDGs that are relevant  – Responsible consumption and production, Life below water, Life on land, and Climate action.