Insurance sector must draw lessons from other sectors: Dinesh

Monday, 8 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dinesh Weerakkody, former Chairman of Commercial Bank of Ceylon, speaking at The International Insurance Congress organised by the Sri Lanka Insurance Institute (SLII) at the Cinnamon Grand on how Sri Lanka can promote the country as a global service hub said the country would need to double the number of skilled staff from the present level by 2016 to meet the growth targets set for the industry.

Former Chairman of Commercial Bank of Ceylon Dinesh Weerakkody speaking at The International Insurance Congress That means new employees have to be trained, he said, and further investment would also have to be made to expand the capacity of the training infrastructure. The industry therefore needs to develop a new employment value proposition to attract young people to join the industry, like what the garment industry did in the 1990s and also to attract education providers through private public partnerships to invest in the required training infrastructure to deliver the skilled manpower the industry needs by 2016 and beyond. Further he pointed out that organisations today compete not just by having financial, strategy, and operational capabilities, but by building competitive organisation capabilities. These organization capabilities come from talent, leadership, and culture. Business leaders are ultimately responsible for managing these organisation capabilities. Also now that Sri Lanka is looking to create a knowledge hub to attract and retain the best and the brightest talent and to attract FDI, the country needs to rethink its positioning. A country he said, can win in the global FDI marketplace by having focus, or an uniqueness, just like a company in the consumer marketplace, for example, take how Ireland focuses on manufacturing and operations; Dubai on tourism and financial services; Switzerland on pharmaceuticals; and Singapore on human capital insight. “Therefore we need to work towards creating that uniqueness.” Weerakkody also pointed out that only 5% of the country’s top jobs are held by women, therefore we need to make sure that the talent pipeline is filled with competent women in school and early jobs. “This increases the pool of women and ultimately should increase the number of women being qualified and available for key jobs. This may take some time, but it will ensure that 50% of our workforce is engaged productively and inclusively,” Weerakkody said.