Women Entrepreneur Awards 2024

(September ‘24 Colombo) The Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce announced the launch of its annual flagship event  “WCIC PRATHIBHABHISHEKA – WOMEN ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS 2024” to recognize and reward the outstanding women entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka and in the SAARC Region.

“The Women Entrepreneur Awards 2024 is unveiled. We once again invite outstanding women entrepreneurs, who have braved the challenges in the past few years, to share their story of resilience and achievements to compete for the coveted – WCIC PRATHIBHABHISHEKA – The Women Entrepreneur awards 2024, at the ceremony to be held in January 2025. The Awards Ceremony will honor women entrepreneurs for their tenacity to scale and grow, and for their contribution and impact on the economy. Whilst the competition is primarily for Sri Lankan Entrepreneurs, we have included an opportunity for women entrepreneurs in the SAARC region to compete under the  special category. The program which was a face lift to the Women Entrepreneur Awards WCIC conducted in the past, has grown in stature year on year. It is the third consecutive award ceremony under the new theme that we will undertake in 2024 , the impact it has made on the audience is clearly visible. The applicants are now very aware of  the need for a strategic outlook for the business and the need to establish  robust governance and finance procedures   ” stated Anoji De Silva, the Chairperson of the WCIC.

On behalf of the organizing committee, the Co–Chairs, Nilani Seneviratne and Tusitha Kumarakulasingam ,  shared the following sentiments. “We are extremely excited to conduct this National initiative to honor , women entrepreneurs across the country. The momentum has been established and entrepreneurs eagerly await to be a part of this journey. We will be accepting applications under the categories – Start-Up, Micro, Small, Medium and Large. Each category will have a specified revenue for the year under review – 2023/2024. Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards will be presented for each category.

Being true to our impact as the National Entrepreneur Awards, we seek participation from regional women entrepreneurs, participants across the 9 provinces are expected to participate just like in the previous years. “Best of the Province” is awarded to the most outstanding of all the applications, from each province.

The women will also be considered for the coveted special awards – Young Woman Entrepreneur, Outstanding Start-Up, The Woman of Courage, The Most Outstanding Export Oriented Entrepreneur (Product and Services) and The Best of the SAARC Region, Digital Entrepreneur, Most Innovative Entrepreneur and The Social Entrepreneur for 2024.The ceremony will culminate with the selection of “THE WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR – 2024.”

“The application for the event can be downloaded from www.wcicsl.lk, or requested from the WCIC office (it would be sent to the interested applicants via email) . The application should be stringently completed and submitted to the WCIC along with all the material required to substantiate the applicant’s story. Entries close on the 31st of October 2024” elaborated the co – chairs”

WCIC Prathibhabhisheka- Women Entrepreneur Awards 2024 will be powered by the Platinum Partner – AIA Insurance, Diamond & Banking Partner – DFCC ALOKA, Collaborative Partner – U S Agency for International Development (USAID) through the USAID CATALYZE Private Sector Development Activity, Gold Partners – McLarens Group and Sunquick Lanka Pvt Ltd, Silver Partner – Hayleys, Bronze Partner – Impra Teas, with Creative Partner – Triad,  and  Knowledge Partner – Ernst & Young . In the next few weeks, we hope to gather the support of more partners.

Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce (WCIC) is the National Chamber of Sri Lanka and the premier organization supporting women entrepreneurs and professional businesswomen. The membership is open to women who believe they can contribute to society as well as benefit from the many facilities the organization creates. WCIC Prathibhabhisheka is a flagship property, which aims to recognize and reward outstanding women entrepreneurs who have been resilient and contributed to economic growth.