Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana, an esteemed awards programme aimed at empowering the remarkable women of Sri Lanka, proudly returns for its fourth consecutive year, jointly organised by NDB Bank and Sirasa News 1st.

Building upon the resounding success of previous editions Vanithabhimana 2023 will span over a period of six to seven months and conclude with a grand award ceremony that celebrates the exceptional achievements of women across various sectors of the nation's economic and social landscape.

This year's programme will be held in four distinct phases. It will start off with an official press conference on the 12th of October at Galadari Colombo, accompanied by the commencement of application collection through Vanithabhimana's official mobile float, which will traverse the nation for 30 days covering the 25 districts ensuring higher awareness and engagement, encouraging more women to submit their applications,.

Provincial Level Competition

The provincial-level competitions represent the second phase, where five outstanding finalists will be selected from each category, resulting in a total of 40 participants per province.

Provincial Level Categories

The following categories are available under the Provincial Level competition,

  1. Sports
  2. Entrepreneurship (Micro Scale)
  3. Entrepreneurship (Small Scale)
  4. Entrepreneurship (Upcoming)
  5. Voluntary Services
  6. Art
  7. Education Services
  8. Young Leadership.

Corporate Sector Competition

The third phase introduces corporate sector competitions tailored for professionals within the corporate world. The selection of the winners under 8 categories will be entrusted to a special judge panel of experts in their respective fields.

Corporate Level Categories

The following categories are available under the Corporate Level competition

  1. Human Resources,
  2. Finance Management,
  3. Marketing and Advertising,
  4. State and Government Sectors,
  5. Hospitality Industry,
  6. Art,
  7. Sports
  8. Entrepreneurship.

The Corporate and Proffessional level applications are now open for Vanithabhimana 2023. You may fill and hand over the application to any NDB Branch or email to vb2023@ndbbank.com.

Vanithabhimana Sinhala / Tamil Application – Click to View/Download   

Vanithabhimana English Application - Click to View/Download   

Vanithabhima Online Application Form - Click to view/Apply

Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana 2023 - Corporate and Professional Sector Application Form - NDB Bank – Click to View   

Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana 2022

Sri Lanka Vanithaabhimana – an awards program to empower the women of Sri Lanka launched for the third consecutive year by NDB Bank and Sirasa News 1st.

Grand Finale 2022

The third year of the Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana awards ceremony, organised by NDB Bank along with Sirasa News 1st, was held in much splendour on the 16th of March 2023 to honour and empower Sri Lankan women. Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana 2022 took place nationwide, with 2384 entries from the provincial competition and 367 from the corporate competition, with the grand award ceremony held last week.

This year's programme was held in four phases, started with the official launch and press conference of the provincial level competition.

Provincial Level Competition

The second phase will consist of the Provincial Level competitions where five finalists will be selected from each category per province concluding with 40 participants in total with a 30 minutes program dedicated to each category.

Provincial Level Categories

  • Sports
  • Entrepreneur (Micro Scale)
  • Entrepreneur (Small Scale)
  • Entrepreneur (Up Coming)
  • Voluntary Services
  • Art
  • Education Services
  • Young Leader

Corporate Sector Competition

Phase three will commence with the corporate sector competitions which are held for professionals in the corporate sector. Accordingly, 20 participants will be selected from each category and 10 finalists will ascend for the final awards ceremony. One winner and 9 merit awards will be handed out via a special judge panel of 30 members proficient in each respective field.

Corporate Sector Categories

  • Human Resources
  • Finance Management
  • Marketing and Advertising
  • Legal
  • State and Government Sector
  • CSR
  • Hospitality Industry
  • Art
  • Sports and Entrepreneur

Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana 2021

The Grand Finale of Sri Lanka Vanithabimana was held on the 8th of March 2022 coinciding with International Women's day, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH). The Vanithabimana initiative introduced by NDB Bank in partnership with Sirasa News 1st, has become a platform for Sri Lankan female achievers who are fast breaking new ground.

The Finale recognized the winners selected at a national level from the two main categories, namely the Provincial sector and the Corporate & Professional Sector. Details of the award winners who took stage at the Vanithabhimana 2021 are as follows;

2021 Winners list - Provincial Sector
Category Province Name
Entrepreneurship(Micro) North Central Province K.D.U.T.K.Wimalarathna
Entrepreneurship(Small) Sabaragamuwa Province Lalitha Padmini
Entrepreneurship(Upcoming) Western Province H.K.Nimali Prasangika
Education Services Southern Province D.S.P.Surangi
Young Leader Southern Province T.H. Vishmi Kawshalya
Literature Western Province Samanthi Miriyagalla
Environment Management North Western Province K.M.D.Omali Sanjani
Voluntary Services North Western Province Chandani Dissanayake
Invention & Innovation Eastern province Sudarsini Sakthikumar
Sports Sabaragamuwa Province Irangani Rupasinghe
2021 Winners list - Corporate & Professional Sector Winners
Category Name Profession/Workplace
Entrepreneurship A.K.G.Ayesha Imalika kavumkokis.com
Tourism R.P.Radeeka Jayani Tourism
State Sector Dr.Thesara V.P.Jayawardane University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Sports Sriyani Kulawansha OLY Ministry Of Education
Art Renuka Balasooriya Film Producer
Legal Field Nilmini Rose Wijeyesekera University of Colombo
Sales & Marketing K.Nadee Silva Citizens Development Business Finance PLC
Financial Management Vindya Cooray Union Assuarance
Human Resources L.Y.P.Gayathri De Silva 1990 Suwa Seriya Foundation
Information Technology Sandra De Zoysa Dialog Axiata PLC

NDB has made continuous efforts to empower women through various initiatives significantly through SME and Micro Finance. As a Bank, NDB takes every effort to provide constant support encouragement and proper financial guidance for Sri Lankan women with determination to grow in life.

The immense contribution made by women to the economy of the country and to other domains goes largely unrecognized. To address this shortcoming, and also to encourage more and more women to engage in economic and social activities, NDB together with Sirasa News First successfully launched ‘Sri Lanka Vanithabhima’ in the year 2020, which is a national level awards ceremony aimed at recognizing and rewarding the country’s female achievers. The “Vanithabhimana” program launched by NDB under its "Araliya" Banking on Women Initiative not only celebrates, rewards and recognizes the contribution made by outstanding women in their area of expertise, but also plans to empower them in their chosen field.

Despite the many challenges and hardships faced by all segments of society due to the current economic crisis, the organizers from both NDB Bank and Sirasa Newsfirst recognized the importance of conducting the program this year in order to identify, motivate and encourage those female achievers who have reached the pinnacle in their chosen field in the face of many obstacles.

NDB Araliya often partners with the Bank’s CSR initiatives to carry out workshops focused around personal grooming, business knowledge and technical skills sharing sessions etc. with a special focus on females. No other bank offers such a fully-fledged offering targeting the female segment and therefore NDB has been able to secure a competitive advantage in the women’s market and create a sustainable positive impact with this initiative.

Vanithabhimana wins award at ‘Top50’ Professional and Career Women Awards by WIM

NDB Bank together Sirasa News1st was recently felicitated with the “Positive Media Campaign for the Empowerment of Women” award at the “Top 50 Professional & Career Women Awards – Eleventh Edition” Sri Lanka & Maldives – under the Organizational Category.

https://www.ft.lk/financial-services/Vanithabhimana-wins-award-at-Top50-Professional-and-Career-Women-Awards-by-WIM/42-730086