"Giving wings to dreams"
Thus the Fair & Lovely Foundation was formed in 2003 with a mission to encourage women's economic empowerment through information and resources in the areas of Career, Education and Enterprise.
Now more than ever before, the Fair and Lovely brand is set on delivering on its promise of changing destinies , giving wings to the dreams of many Sri Lankan women.
The Fair and Lovely Foundation has been involved in a series of personality and entrepreneruship development programmes giving Sri Lanka women the much needed assistance to realise their dreams.
Career fair
In 2005 The FAL Foundation held a one of its kind Career Fair with the assistance of the University of Colombo. Over 25,000 people participated in this event spread over three days. Experienced career counselors from the University of Colombo were at hand to educate those who visited the exhibition on the various vocations and trades. This was indeed a unique opportunity for a majority, who for the first time in their lives were able to meet qualified counselors on a one to one basis and obtain instruction and advice. One of the novel features of the program was the industry and vocation stalls where knowledge about these sectors was imparted by experienced practitioners. Exhibits covering over 150 avenues of employment spread over 28 vocational fields were on display. Each stall contained an overall description of a given sector or a comprehensive account of a particular vocation and a biographical narrative of a model professional.
As a take away, booklets giving general information on 28 different sectors of industry, trade and vocations were also made available. A comprehensive index of vocational training institutes in the country was also made available - another first in Sri Lanka.
One of the more popular attractions of the exhibition was the CV Corner, where visitors learnt how to construct CVs and make proper job applications, fulfilling a greatly felt need. They were also given the opportunity to take a profiling test so that they could be guided towards the professions best suited for them.
'Dare to dream'
The program also facilitated the presence of entrepreneurs who had achieved success in their chosen fields through a previous Fair & Lovely initiative named ‘Diriya Sihinaya’, literally translated as the ‘dare to dream’ initiative. These successful young entrepreneurs shared their experiences offering much encouragement and hope. There is no doubt that the large numbers of young people searching for employment and looking for a fulfilling vocation would have benefited immensely from this opportunity made possible through the Fair and Lovely Foundation. The successful women entrepreneurs who had come through the Fair & Lovely ‘Diriya Sihinaya’ program were given special awards, while those who successfully completed the various skills development courses offered on this program were awarded certificates.
Over the 3 days, many renowned speakers gave talks on a number of subjects such as positive thinking and market identification, which were absorbed with great enthusiasm.
Now more than ever before, the Fair & Lovely brand is set on delivering on its promise of changing destinies, giving wings to the dreams of many a Sri Lankan woman.
