Further cementing its commitment to the growth of the apparel export sector
25th November 2023, Colombo: Hela Apparel Holdings PLC walked away with the prestigious Overall Award for Best Exporter in Product Diversification and Sectoral Award for Best Exporter – Medium Category, at the 25th Presidential Export Awards Ceremony, held on the 23rd of November at the Bandaranayake Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) with the patronage of Ranil Wickremasinghe – President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
“It gives me immense pleasure to have received these awards on behalf of Hela,” said A.R Rasiah, Chairman, Hela Apparel Holdings PLC. “It’s been a challenging couple of years for the apparel manufacturing sector in Sri Lanka and it has been no different for Hela. Despite the challenging global operating environment, we have been steadfast in our commitment to growth across our global footprint, expanding our offerings and creating global partnerships that share our vision. This recognition further cements our journey within the sector and is a true testament to all the hard work, commitment, and dedication of the Hela Group across the globe” he concluded.
This year’s ceremony recognized the country’s top exporters in multiple categories for the two years, 2021/22 and 2022/23 under two main categories, awarding 13 Overall Awards and 51 Products and Services Sector Awards. According to the current Government Policy Framework and newly formed strategies to promote exports, the esteemed judge board headed by a retired judge of the supreme court took measures to identify organisations for efforts taken in Market diversification, Product diversification, Innovation, Value addition, Introduction of indigenous brands to the world, Sustainable Initiatives in exports, Development in regional value chains and more.
Viraj Fernando, CEO, Private Label Division, Hela Apparel Holdings PLC, shared his thoughts on the achievement, “In today’s industry context, we must look beyond the traditional norms of apparel manufacturing and be willing to offer customers an unappareled service and end-to-end solutions. The market is increasingly competitive, understanding this we at Hela have been working to expand our global partnerships with innovative ideas and unique product and design offerings of the highest quality, prioritizing speed solutions, which has helped us continue our operations and achieve milestones such as this despite a challenging global operating environment.”
The awards ceremony was concluded successfully with the participation of over 1,500 guests, including Ministers, Government officials, Diplomats, Well-wishers, and Exporters, and was organized by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board.
Hela Apparel Holdings PLC is a social capital-focused company built on the principles of inclusivity, equity, and climate stability. With over three decades of industry experience, Hela focuses on building strategic partnerships with global brands to provide apparel supply chain solutions with distinctive advantages. The organisation has a global presence with 10 manufacturing facilities across Sri Lanka, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Egypt, as well as design centres in Sri Lanka, the US, the UK, and France, providing direct employment to over 20,000 people. Innovative, ethical, and sustainable apparel manufacturing is at the centre of Hela’s operations. With numerous accolades for sustainability, the organization was recently endorsed as a signatory to the UN Global Compact and was awarded the ISO 14064-1:2018 certification for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions across the Group for the second consecutive year.