Epic Lanka (Pvt) Ltd clinched the coveted Sri Lanka Malaysia Entrepreneur 2007/2008 award at the 4th Annual Sri Lanka Malaysia Business Awards 2008 held at the Galadari Hotel last week. Epic Lanka also won two other Gold Awards under the categories of IT and Other Business Related Services and Financial and Related Services.

Gold winners under other categories were: Manufacturers, Exporters, Retailers and Consumer Products -- Bairaha Farms PLC; Manufacturers of Industrial Products - Associated Autoways (Pvt) Ltd; Importers, Distributors and Retailers - KKK Distributors (Pvt) Ltd; Hospitality and Hospitality Related Travel - Berjaya Mount Royal Beach Hotel; and Infrastructure and Services - Sincon International (Pvt) Ltd Malaysian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Rosli Ismail speaking as the chief guest, encouraged the business community in Sri Lanka to explore the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) industry in which Malaysia can offer a lot of advice.

He said that SMEs comprise more than 99.2 percent of business establishments in the manufacturing, services and agriculture sectors in Malaysia. Recognizing the importance of this contribution to the economy, the Malaysian government continues to undertake efforts to harness the potential of SMEs to enable them to move up the value chain.

Mr Ismail said that Malaysia remains the biggest investor in Sri Lanka for nearly four years consecutively with investments continue to be strong mainly in the telecommunications, infrastructure and real property sector, manufacturing and garments industries and other services.

Malaysia is ranked among the top 20 trading nations of the world. He said that Malaysia is more than willing to share their knowledge and experience with Sri Lanka. He pointed out that Sri Lankan investment in Malaysia is relatively small and as of March 2008, Sri Lanka participation in manufacturing projects was valued at USD 13.7 million with only four Sri Lankan companies are in production.

K.D.C.E.Wickramaratne who was re-elected President, SLMBC for the second consecutive year and J. D. Bandaranayake, Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce also spoke.