A Mendis special insurance from Janashakthi

A combination that’s set to become a winning partnership, was tangibly expressed on Tuesday evening at the Holiday Inn Hotel - when an agreement was signed and exchanged between the Chairman, Janashakthi Insurance, W.T. Ellawala, and Sri Lanka’s ace spinner of the ball, the metoric rising star, Ajantha Mendis - to give effect to his becoming the new Brand Ambassador for Janashakthi. This memorable occasion, that had a measure of significance for both Janashakthi and Mendis, had a very representative gathering comprising personnel from the media, both print as well as electronic, visitors and guests, with the proceedings being well steered by compere Kumar de Silva.

It was gathered from the Managing Director, Janashakthi Insurance, Prakash Schaffter, that the new partnership between Janashakthi and Mendis was complementary to each other, in that both share the same passion and values “Innovation, Trustworthiness, Dynamism and Dependability. Janashakthi he emphasised has proved that these values are inherent in its business activities, having produced countless industrial firsts, as well as proving its dependability and trustworthiness by settling many significant claims.

And went onto draw the parallel, that Mendis too in his relatively short career, proved beyond doubt that he is a cricketer, who can be trusted to deliver the goods. He is also a celebrated as an innovative and a dynamic cricketer an accepted fact among the cricket loving public.

Prakash also made the point that both Janashakthi and Mendis had yet another similarity in that they were early achievers. For the reason that within only a decade of operation, Janashakthi was the only insurer to acquire a state owned insurance company, and swiftly to become Sri Lanka’s 3rd Largest General Insurer.

Not forgetting as well that it was the fastest insurer to reach the Rs. 5 billion revenue milestone and also Sri Lanka’s first private insurer to venture into the South Asian market. Mendis too has shown that he is an early achiever for he almost single handedly “delivered” the Asia Cup to Sri Lanka and was declared the most ‘important player’ in the tournament. He was also named “Most Emerging cricketer 2007/8 at the recently concluded ICC cricket awards.

This apart, in a very short period of time he achieved the laudable feat of breaking the world record for the most number of test wickets by any bowler in a debut test series. He became the ‘Man of the series’ in the twenty20 tournament in Canada and then went on to dazzle in Zimbabwe too: There are features that are common to both Janashakthi and Mendis, which led Prakash Schaffter to conclude saying “all our Mutual accomplishments, passions and qualities are in line with Janashakthi’s corporate image and the excellence of the brand we take pride in offering the Sri Lankan public, thus making Ajantha Mendis the perfect choice.

The Chairman, Janashakthi Insurance, W.T. Ellawala and Roshan Abeysinghe drew a brief narrative of both Janashakthi and Mendis - with Roshan adding that we ought not to lose sight of the part played by Major General V.R. Silva in nurturing and guiding this gem of a bowler. Roshan even went to the extent of making a suggestive request that Janashakthi consider insuring Ajantha’s fingers.

The man of the moment, Ajantha Mendis said it was his pride and privilege to be associated with Janashakthi in this way and thanked them for the opportunity.