CIMA Business Leaders Summit 2016 kicks off today

CIMA’s flagship event, Business Leaders Summit 2016, on the theme ‘Joining the dots’, will kick off today, where Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama and Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy will address the audience as the chief guest and keynote speaker, respectively. The event will foreground how business leaders can take into account value drivers and turn risk into opportunity in an era where the business environment is characterised by its complexity and rapid change, brought about by geopolitical upheavals, digital media, growth of emerging economies and changing customer loyalties.

The summit sessions tomorrow will begin with CIMA Executive Director Education Dr. Noel Tagoe leading a discussion titled ‘Integrated thinking: A new lens for thinking about your business’, which will focus on how embedding integrated thinking into mainstream business practice, facilitated by Integrated Reporting and Global Management Accounting Principles delivers a holistic picture for the growth of better businesses and societies. Investing in people is key to sustainable business success and Prof. Mahendra K. Chouhan’s (Member Global Council – International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), UK; Vice Chairman – Global Advisory Board, Asian Centre for Corporate Governance & Sustainability; Chairman – Mahendra & Young Knowledge Foundation) presentation will provide a framework to enable employers to invest more strategically in their talent, investors to recognise human capital as a fundamental element of business strategy and employees to benefit from better opportunities and greater fulfilment at work. These two presentations will be followed by a panel discussion titled ‘Breaking down silos for value creation’ led by CIMA Acting Regional Director and Head of Strategic Business Asia Pacific Venkkat Ramanan, Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) Chairman Vajira Kulatilaka, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General Vajira Wijegunawardane, KPMG Managing Partner Reyaz Mihular, BDO Consulting Partner Tishan Subasinghe and MTD Walkers PLC Head Sustainability, Risk Management and Sourcing Chulendra de Silva. Disruptive innovation and learning to adapt to its challenges will be discussed in the second half of the Intellectual connect, with a case study presented by CakeLabs Vice President and General Manager Rasika Karunatilake. Titled ‘Disrupt or be Disrupted’, Karunatilake will move the spotlight to CakeLabs - a company that is customer-focused, innovated boldly, adapted rapidly, delivered more for less and exploited market opportunities. This discussion aims to provide participants with insights into how to invest in and operate a digitally thriving business model. The second panel discussion, which follows this presentation, is titled ‘Managing the value of your talent – the return on people’ and would be led by UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka Representative Sutheash Balasubramaniam, Ernst & Young Partner Manil Jayesinghe, Ceylon Biscuits Limited (Foods) International CEO Samitha Perera, Global Consulting Company CEO Aroshi Nanayakkara and HNB CHRO Chiranthi Cooray. The event will conclude with a presentation sharing insights on how organisations can keep innovating and growing in the current business environment.