Triple bottom line focus yields rich dividends for Watawala Plantations
View(s):Watawala Plantations PLC, a subsidiary of Sunshine Holdings PLC, won many accolades in 2014 due to the many initiatives taken by the company.
One of its initiatives, the ‘Triple bottom line’ focused strategies, served to yield rich dividends even at grass-root levels and resulted in the company being recognised with 13 national and two prestigious regional awards. The total tally of 15 awards received by Watawala included five gold awards, according to a company statement.
“Watawala Plantations received 13 awards within the last four months of 2014 alone, based on vastly different criteria, ranging from process improvements to leadership in Corporate Social Responsibility, energy efficiency and people management,” it said.
Its interventions made a significant impact. For example, substantial reduction in energy consumption by the company resulted in saving an estimated 12,700 trees, which otherwise would have been felled for fuel. In addition, job satisfaction and motivation of ‘associates’ were further improved, sustainable livelihoods were created and significant improvements were achieved by Watawala Plantations in productivity, quality and internal processes, among a host of other developments, it said.
“Far more than the number of awards, which serve primarily as benchmarks of progress, we are extremely pleased that our targeted efforts to make a substantial positive impact on our business operations, environment and our associates continue to yield rich dividends,” Director/CEO of Watawala Plantations, Dan Seevaratnam said. “We will continue to ‘raise the bar’, to achieve our goal of becoming a best in class entity in every aspect.”
Pointing out that Watawala Plantations won a number of awards by overcoming competition from leading organisations from other industries, Dr. Seevaratnam noted that Watawala has gone beyond a leader in the plantation sector, to a leader in the corporate sector, with international recognition.