Asian Alliance recognized for contribution to youth empowerment at Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards

For its contribution towards empowering underprivileged rural youth via the ‘WIN Youth Empowerment Programme’ – which seeks to eventually benefit 10,000 youth – Asian Alliance Insurance PLC has been recognized as a winner in the ‘Social Empowerment’ category at the prestigious Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA) 2016.

At the high-level event held recently at Resort World Sentosa, Singapore to present the awards to the winners, Asian Alliance Insurance shared the stage with 170 nominees from the region. Previous winners in the ‘Social Empowerment’ category include global organisations of the calibre of Mastercard Worldwide and top local entities such as Hayleys Agriculture Holdings and Expolanka Holdings PLC.

In recognition of Asian Alliance Insurance’s efforts to empower underprivileged youth, the company was also invited to be part of the International CSR Summit 2016 which was held in Singapore prior to the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA) 2016.

AREA recognises and honours Asian businesses for championing sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship in: green leadership, investment in people, health promotion, social empowerment, SME CSR and responsible business leadership.

This latest award further expands the substantial tally of awards/accolades won recently by the company. Asian Alliance clinched four awards at the Insurance Industry Awards of Sri Lanka 2016, emerging as the highest awards winner at the ceremony, was ranked among the country’s top 25 workplaces by the Great Place to Work® Institute and was recognized by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) Agents’ Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) for contribution to its members.

“Asian Alliance Insurance takes pride in being recognized for its commitment to Social Empowerment at the Asian region level,” Asian Alliance Insurance PLC, Managing Director, Iftikar Ahamed said. “More importantly, this accolade reflects the significant potential of our ‘WIN Youth Empowerment Programme,’ which seeks to empower underprivileged yet outstanding rural youth with a long-term view.

The WIN Youth Empowerment Programme of Asian Alliance Insurance PLC envisions empowering 10,000 underprivileged but outstanding youth from rural areas and thereby contribute substantially to the progress of the rural economy by 2021. Accordingly, it seeks to enhance the attitudes, confidence, knowledge and opportunities of the 10,000 youth and conduct 55 workshops per year towards this end.

Aimed at students who have completed their GCE Advanced Level studies, this programme identifies deserving youth through a systematic process. The identified youth are invited to take part in a comprehensive four-day workshop which features informative sessions and practical sessions aimed at developing communication and presentation skills. The students are evaluated and given invaluable feedback regarding their performance at the end of the workshop.

Thereafter internship opportunities are offered to participants at the 25 group companies which together with Asian Alliance Insurance PLC form the Softlogic Group. Students are selected for these using an assessment centre with the aid of senior HR managers of the group. During the internship, students have access to a mentoring programme and are groomed by top executives of the respective companies.

Thereafter Asian Alliance will link the students with prospective employers using partnerships with some of the largest job banks in the country. Significant numbers are expected to be absorbed into the Softlogic Group companies as well.

Following the first phase, Asian Alliance Insurance will launch the second phase utilizing the experiences and knowledge acquired by the first 10,000 students and using the successful candidates of the first phase as brand ambassadors.

Asian Alliance Insurance PLC is held by Softlogic Capital PLC and is part of the Softlogic Group, which is recognized as one of Sri Lanka’s most diversified and fastest-growing conglomerates with interests in Healthcare, Retail, ICT, Leisure, Automobiles and Financial Services. Significant stakeholders in the company also include FMO and DEG that are rated ‘AAA’ Development Financial Institutions from the Netherlands and Germany respectively.