Elephant House Ice Cream, the much-loved and well known household Ice cream brand, has taken an initiative towards uplifting women in society and supporting the communities through a novel women’s empowerment project named Dinannee.
With the support of the Women’s Bureau and other non-government agencies, the Elephant House Ice Cream Team intends to use the Ice Cream operations to reach out and support well-deserving women across the island, by providing job opportunities to women either through selling & distribution or by sourcing products required for ice cream production and selling operations. The sales operations will be further broken down to enable the hiring of female staff for the company sales team, and sales through mobile channels, ice cream parlour outlets and distribution networks.
Taking a step further, Elephant House Ice Cream sponsored ‘Aya’, a National-level empowerment and development initiative celebrating International Women’s Day, organized by the State Ministry of Women and Child Development, Pre-Schools & Primary Education, School Infrastructure & Education Services held on 8th and 9th of March. This national event was attended by the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and attracted over 1700 female entrepreneurs.
“At Elephant House, we believe that women are at the forefront of every aspect of life, devoting their time and energy for the betterment of family and society at large. This is in alignment with John Keells Group’s One JKH program which encourages diversity, equity and inclusion in our value chains. Empowering women to take new steps and supporting them to reach new heights is our responsibility. This initiative was aptly named Dinannee to signify the winning attitude of women” commented Mr Sathish Rathnayake, Head of Frozen Confectionery Category, Vice President John Keells Holdings.
At the ‘Aya’ Women’s day event, Elephant House featured their very first female Area Sales Manager for Elephant House Ice Creams, Ms Malinthika Fernando, who spoke of her journey at Elephant House and the support anticipated from Dinannee. Females were encouraged to register for the Dinannee initiative by visiting the stall that was available at the event.
The Dinannee initiative was introduced to empower women to encourage their economic contribution to society, promoting their sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others. The initiative will mainly focus on the multiple roles of a woman in the family as a daughter, wife and a mother and support her to take on newer roles to harness and expand on her skills and capabilities.