Talal to speak on SMEs, startups navigating post-pandemic biz landscape at CBSL lecture

Talal Rafi will be giving a keynote speech on the topic ‘How can SMEs and Startups navigate the post-pandemic business environment?’ at the Central Bank’s Centre for Banking Studies, Rajagiriya, on 7 February. The opinions expressed in the talk will be the speaker’s own.

Talal is on the Deloitte Global Team on Climate and Sustainability, and he is a member of the Global ESG Operations team at Deloitte Global. Talal is a member of the Expert Network of the World Economic Forum and he Co-Chairs the global plastic innovation network action group of the World Economic Forum. Talal began his career as an entrepreneur in Sri Lanka and later worked in the development sector. He was on a selection committee of the Asian Development Bank #Digital AgainstCOVID-19 Innovation series and was a member of the expert team at Chatham House London on formulating recommendations for the G7 and G20 on gender equality post-COVID. He has worked as an entrepreneurship specialist at a USAID project and as an industry expert under the World Bank AHEAD project at Moratuwa University. He has given talks globally, including at the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center and serves on the advisory board of a Silicon Valley startup working on AI and machine learning in the financial sector.

Talal’s work has been published by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, World Economic Forum, UNFCCC (United Nations), London School of Economics and Forbes.

Previous keynote speakers at the Central Bank include former IMF Chief Economist and former Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan, IMF Executive Director Dr. Surjith Bhalla, former Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr. Venugopal Reddy, and economists Jeffrey Sachs and John Williamson.