Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Monday, 23 June 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The theme for this year was redefining the 3R’s: ‘Rethink, Readjust, Reach’ where the audience was taken through an in-depth investigation into sustaining longevity in today’s business environment. The event saw a record number of participation and was endorsed by Sri Lankan cricketing legend Kumar Sangakkara. 
“Most barriers in life are psychological”
The conference commenced with Lanka Harness Company Ltd. Managing Director Rohan Pallewatte surprising and serenading the audience with a beautiful song accompanied by his guitar. After such a grand opening, Pallewatte elaborated on his real life experiences that captivated the audience.
His speech was based on the topic ‘Reach the Bigger Picture as an Entrepreneur’ in which he stated: “Most of the barriers in life are psychological. When you set your mind on to something, do not seek too many opinions. Be confident of your decision because the greatest things happen from within the individual. It is necessary to create a conducive environment in your organisation in which people come out with ideas all the time.”
Redefining eco-tourism
Eco Tourism Ltd. and Beyond Boundaries Global Ltd. Founder/Managing Director Anuruddha Bandara shared his expertise in ‘Redefining eco-tourism to strengthen your competitive advantage’.
An expert and passionate believer of eco-tourism, Bandara in his speech stated: “We need to be ecologically conscious people who would want to do good for the environment. Although it is called eco-tourism, the trend is now moving towards niche tourism, therefore present-day marketers should think of themselves as niche marketers.”
Bandara asserted that all businesses should bring eco-tourism into their workplaces, so that awareness is created and people become concerned about the environment.
Green economies are the defining new sector
The next guest speaker was Malaysia Blue Ocean Strategy Institute Operations Director Ravi Fernando. He expressed his views and knowledge on ‘Key conditions for businesses to embed sustainability in corporate strategy’.
He stated: “Green economies are the defining new sector that’s going to emerge through the nearing green revolution. If you can combine sustainability in marketing whilst understanding the concept of management then this would become more relevant. Sustainability is a strategic issue and not a short term issue. There is an exciting opportunity for all of us to start redesigning, rethinking and readjusting today’s products and services to be made, innovated, sourced, differentiated and marketed more sustainably. We live in an exciting era.”
Audacious future of limitless information
Finally Capital Maharaja Organisation Group Director Chevaan Daniel elaborated on ‘The audacious future of limitless information’. He took the audience through the failure of information: “As marketers we must understand and account for the implication of failure of information. If we don’t have an opinion there will be no action and without action there can be no future.” 
The panel discussion ensued next, where distinguished panellists debated and conferred on marketing the Five South Asian hubs by Chandana De Silva, Area Manager Sri Lanka & Maldives at Emirates, Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kishan Nanayakara , Chief Executive Officer, Hemas Power and Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne, Secretary to the Minster of Higher Education. Lakshaman Bandaranayake, Chairman, Vanguard Media was the Moderator of the panel discussion.
Exhaustive, interesting and valuable experience
The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region Chairman Shantha Katipearachchi said, “This year’s student conference took the audience through a much talked about topic – redefining the 3R’s into sustaining longevity. The eminent speakers and panellists shared inspiring stories and educated the young audience with a wealth of knowledge. This was a valuable stepping stone that aimed to enhance the level of marketing in our country.”
He added, “The conference was an exhaustive, interesting and valuable experience for each and every member of the audience, who comprised of students to executives and business leaders.”
Amal Fernando, the Head of Education of The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region, commenting on the event, said: “I am proud to witness one of the most exciting projects we have undertaken in the recent past. The experience our young marketers gain by organising events of this nature will not only give them a sense of joy and satisfaction, but it will also make them confident and well-rounded marketers.”
GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Sri Lanka and Stafford Motor Co. Ltd were the Strategic and Gold sponsor respectively. Sampath Bank PLC was the Bronze sponsor.
Daily FT, Daily Mirror and Sunday Times were the Print Media Partners. Rest of the sponsors included; ZMessenger as the Official Marketing Sponsor, MyDeal.lk as the Online Ticketing Sponsor, AU Entertainment as the Official Event Partner, Sri Lankan Airlines as the Official Airline Partner and Pan Audio Ltd as the Official Audio Visual Partner.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the largest community of professional marketers in the world with 100 years of heritage delivering education, membership and insight offerings to the marketing and sales profession.
As the world’s largest Institute for professional marketers with over 35,000 members globally, CIM places great emphasis in maintaining high standards of quality and integrity 
and as such, develops and sets standards within marketing landscapes of UK and other regional countries in which it operates.
The CIM qualification is the only international qualification recognised by the Royal Charter in United Kingdom. 
The CIM Sri Lanka Region is the first international branch of CIM UK and comprises of the largest number of members, both professional and students, of CIM outside the UK; 1,800 student members and over 1,000 professional members, respectively. The Regional Institute has always campaigned for greater recognition and excellence in the marketing profession in Sri Lanka, through education, training and development.
