Anoji begins her second term at helm of Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce

• The New Board of Management for 22/23 announced

The Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce (WCIC) conducted its 37th annual General meeting recently at the Jetwing Colombo Seven.

Anoji De Silva was reappointed as the Chairperson for the period 2022/2023, as per the provisions of the constitution.

Addressing the gathering of members, past Chairpersons and Founder Members in her inaugural speech of the second term in office, Anoji reiterated and pledged to stay true to its vision: “WCIC will continue to reinforce the vision to be the ‘think tank’ voice and the ‘platform’ empowering women to be powerful nation builders by participating in transforming economic growth of the country”.

Elaborating on the action she stated that: “keeping with the strategic direction, the WCIC will continue to focus and work on important areas in 2022/23 through the strategic pillars via active participation of WCIC in policy advocacy to ensure the voice of women entrepreneurs and women in business are considered in policy development, assisting members and other women in business with the required knowledge and skills needed to take on leadership roles, building capacity and business skills of women entrepreneurs and members who own businesses and continuing our efforts to create dignity of labour for women engaged in low skilled employment.”

Talking about the two flagship properties of the WCIC, Anoji stated that the Women Entrepreneur Awards was re-launched under the theme: “WCIC Prathibhabisheka – The Women Entrepreneur Awards 2022 which is especially designed to honour Sri Lankan women entrepreneurs for their tenacity to scale and grow during these challenging times and for the positive impact they are making on society and the economy.

“The launch was held with a media conference on 7 September 2020 and applications will be accepted till end October with the award Ceremony scheduled to be held in January 2023.”

She also stated that the Women Leadership Forum 2022, to commemorate International Women›s day was conducted as a full-day leadership development forum to a packed audience of over 225 attendees under the theme ‘Breaking the Barriers for a Better Tomorrow’. Feedback from the participants was extremely positive”

She highlighted some of the planned activities under each strategic pillar for the period 2022/2023 and presented her review of the year 2021/2022 and shared the many activities conducted by the Chamber despite the restrictions that prevailed due to the pandemic.

Anoji concluded her speech by thanking the members for their presence at the AGM and their continued support and welcoming the new board members. A grateful thank you was also extended to the outgoing Board members for their immense contribution during the past year. 

She further requested the members to live by the WCIC premise; Empower, Engage, and Enrich by “empowering yourself, empowering and engaging other women and empowering, engaging and enriching the economy.”