Sarvodaya Development Finance’s Annual Report wins Gold at 55th Annual Report Awards

The 2018/2019 Annual Report of Sarvodaya Development Finance Ltd. (SDF), a licensed Finance Company approved by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), won the Gold award at the 55th Annual Report Awards competition organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo recently. 

The SDF Annual Report 2019 won the Gold in the ‘Finance Companies and Leasing Companies (Total assets up to Rs. 20 billion)’ category. This is the first time the company has bagged the Gold Award having won the Silver Award in the same category for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2017.

Organised by the CA Sri Lanka, the Annual Report Awards is an annual event that is widely considered to be one of the country’s most prestigious and oldest corporate events. The awards ceremony promotes transparency, accountability, social responsibility and corporate governance in the country’s business sector. A total of 130 companies of varying sizes and industries vied for honours at this year’s competition. 

Created under the theme ‘Responsible, Responsive and Respected,’ the SDF Annual Report 2019 delved into how the new, dynamic leadership has helped create innovative ideas that have enabled the streamlining of every process of the business. The Report also showed how the professional and highly valued team continued to work tirelessly in order to face adverse challenges and handle difficult situations in a timely and appropriate manner, which in turn, made SDF a company that is trusted by all stakeholders.

Expressing his views on the award win, Sarvodaya Development Finance CEO Nilantha Jayanetti stated: “It fills the whole SDF family with great pride to win this prestigious Gold Award. We have been able to successfully take home the Silver Award for the past two years and we set ourselves a goal of improving our Annual Report even further with the objective of winning the Gold this year. I am pleased to see that all our efforts have paid off. At SDF, we are proud of the quality of our work at all levels and especially in ensuring that all segments of society, most notably those who may be marginalised or overlooked, are cared for and given every opportunity to grow.”

A development finance arm of the Sarvodaya Movement, Sarvodaya Development Finance is one of Sri Lanka’s largest and most respected non-profit organisations. The Sarvodaya Movement continues to dominate as a leading people’s organisation in Sri Lanka with a history of over 60 years, operating in more than 15,000 villages island wide. 

Sarvodaya Development Finance is guided by the principles of the Sarvodaya Movement: empowering the rural population and creating sustainable livelihoods among village based communities. SDF through its 51 branches and customer service centres has a legacy of providing committed development financial services, such as savings and fixed deposits across Sri Lanka. While remaining in development finance, SDF has now expanded into the SME business, leasing and other ancillary finance businesses.