Top global business leaders on Lankan soil at first SIAS Partnership Summit

The 1st Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, Singapore (SIAS) Partnership Summit was concluded on 5 December at the Galadari Hotel amidst an elite gathering.

The summit clocked 224 registrations drawn from the public and the private sectors which included 41 overseas Leaders giving the local community the rate opportunity to network and to showcase the opportunities available for potential business in Sri Lanka. Most overseas delegates took the opportunity to visit the country including the North and the East and were hopeful in churning promising business relationships in the very near future.

The Chief Guest at the 1st SIAS Partnership Summit was Secretary to the Government of India – Department of Public Enterprise Bhaskar Chatterjee, and the Key note was delivered by CEO – ‘STAR NEWS’ Ashok Venkatramani. The theme of SIAS Partnership Summit was “Building the Future — Partnership and Progress through Development”. Eighteen distinguish leaders shared their wisdom so generously in two separate forums titled:

LEADERSHIP -‘The networked world and the changing roles of governments, civil society and the private sector’ and HR - ‘Generation X, Y, Z, — the HR Readiness to guide the generation diversity and potential conflicting policies — the best fit in the 21st century. The platform was rich with wisdom with a rare breed of iconic leaders that gave an all inclusive encapsulated capsule of knowledge to the audience — ‘it was a well prepared and planned moderation and a well balanced eminent panel, we learnt so much from it and it was value for money said a participant’ Harsha Purasinghe CEO of Micro Image (Pvt.) Ltd.

HR Panel was moderated by Niroshan Silva, Immediate Past president HRP and MD/CEO Training Consortium and the eminent panel; Ishan Danthanarayana, Chief People Office Brandix; Nalin Jayasuriya, MD/CEO Mc Quise Rens & Jones; Ajith Costa, President IPM Sri Lanka; Saagarika Ghoshal, Chief People Office/Talent Leader Reliance; Rajeev Dubey, President HR and Member of the Group Management Board, Mahendra & Mahindra Ltd; Ravi Peiris, Director General EFC; Isuru Thilakawardena President HRP.

The Leadership Panel was moderated by Dinesh Watawana, MD/CEO of Kumbuk River and 7th Frontier and the eminent panel;  Taritha Shankar,  Chairperson Indira Group of Institutes;  Robert Yeo, Executive Director CEO Singapore Training and Development Association; Prof. Gunapala Nanayakkara, Senior Professor PIM and Head Global Advisory Council IIHRM;  Nandipha Sishuba, f/Head of Department Human Resettlement Eastern Cape South Africa; Ravi Dias, COO Commercial Bank of Ceylon;  Arun Agrawal, President and Global Head, International Banking YES Bank Ltd; Deepak Kaistha, CEO, Planman Consulting; Rajan Saxena Vice Chancellor NMIMS.

OLAK Group an educational nucleus (www.olak.biz) and Intercontinental Institute of Human Resource Management (www.iihrm.biz ), a reputed Human Resource consultancy and training out-fit operating overseas incorporated in Sri Lanka hosted the grand finale to attract the business leaders to the country in keeping with the Government’s vision to make “Mahinda Chinthanaya” a reality said Ranjeewa Kulatunga the Co-Chairman for the 1st SIAS Partnership Summit who is also the MD/CEO for OLAK Group and the Intercontinental Institute of Human Resource Management (IIHRM).