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CEOs at historic first roundtable on children The result
of a confluence of diverse forces, the Country Music Foundation
(CMF), Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF) and a group of concerned members of the business community,
the October 14 roundtable will be held at the Trans Asia Hotel,
organisers said. Among eminent
speakers invited to address the roundtable is Greig Craft, founder
of the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, a children's charity in
Vietnam and the 'Helmets for Kids' initiative. Craft is also Vice
Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce. According to
a spokesman for the CMF, the key objectives of the roundtable on
children are aimed at sensitizing the corporate sector on the situation
of children in Sri Lanka and how best they could advocate children's
rights and also contribute to the fulfillment of their basic needs
through specific projects. The second objective is to give deserving
and bright children the opportunity to be exposed to an environment
that will contribute to the development of their personalities. Explaining
the role of the non-profit foundation in initiating such an event,
he said the roundtable on children was conceptualised as a logical
follow up to the CMF's annual country music concert series "Country
Road" to be held in Colombo for the eleventh time this year.
The concert is sponsored by leading corporate entities Emirates,
Cargills (Ceylon) Ltd, and supported by the Trans Asia Hotel, and
proceeds are channeled to needy projects through UNICEF. The CEO's roundtable
on children is an important first step in this direction not just
for Sri Lanka, but possibly for the South Asian region, he added. Elaborating
on the rationale for the roundtable, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce
Secretary General and CEO Renton de Alwis said: "The Chamber
takes on competitiveness enhancement of the business sector with
social equity as a high priority item on its agenda of work. We
also believe that our children and their well-being form the future
balanced development of our country. The slogan we are using for
the CEO's roundtable is 'Good Business - Good Value - Our Children'
to reflect our thinking." Ms. Devika Ellepola, Sales Manager, Emirates which is flying down six musicians from Germany for the concert, said the concert and the CEO's conference following it will help generate greater awareness about the issues facing thousands of underprivileged children in this country. "As the most active foreign airline in Colombo, we are pleased to be a part of these two events," she added. Vehicle
importers welcome new registration system "This
is a good move," said Berty Widanagamage, the president of
the association. "We're going back to the previous practice
where importers did not need to take vehicles to the RMV for registration
but only had to submit their papers." The public
would no longer need to pay bribes to get their vehicles registered,
he pointed out. "The practice
of taking vehicles to the RMV's office for registration is not found
anywhere else in the world," he added. However, he
warned that certain RMV officials were not co-operating with the
Commissioner in implementing the transport minister's new initiative. The association
also has asked the RMV to get linked to the Customs Department computer
system to get the chassis numbers of imported vehicles, Widanagamage
said. Widanagamage, in a letter to association members, said member-importers should ensure this privilege is not abused. "The commissioner asked me to inform members to safeguard this privilege (not taking vehicles to the RMV for registration) by ensuring that nothing irregular takes place like submitting documents that have been tampered or changed for the purpose of registration," he said. Small
ad agency wins mega marketing job Ranked against
some of the top international agencies in presenting their case,
the small ad agency was delighted when HNB moved away from tradition
to entrust the massive campaign to this hitherto unknown agency. The decision
paid off well with the agency's upbeat campaign resulting in the
Rs. 2 billion issue being oversubscribed within hours with a staggering
Rs. 3 billion. "Maybe
we can take a little credit but the fact remains that a giant has
propelled a small agency into self-belief," says Dinesh Watawana,
who leads The 7th Frontier. His young agency has already served
notice on the local ad scene with creativity that sits up and demands
attention and innovative brand strategies. "Ours is a small
team. But with big ideas." The handful of clients of The 7th Frontier includes HNB, UTE, The Finance Co, INTEL and Emerald. The agency now awaits their chance to engineer their first FMCGs. Ceylon
Chamber boosts ties with Australian delegation The delegation
led by Ian Whitaker, Manager International Trade Centre, Chamber
of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia comprised representatives
of Belden Australia Pty Ltd, D.F. Crawley and Associates, Hindle-Burali,
Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd, Royston Diesel Sales Pty Ltd, Solahart
Industries Pty Ltd, Woodside Energy Ltd, and the Department of Industry
and Technology. Frank Crawley, Managing Director of D.F. Crawley
and Associates in addition to representing his company was also
visiting Sri Lanka in his capacity as the Honorary Consul for Sri
Lanka. Tilak de Zoysa,
chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce thanked the delegation
for identifying Sri Lanka as a potential market and giving the Sri
Lankan business community an opportunity to have a direct dialogue
on trade and investment prospects for Sri Lanka in Australia. Whitaker said
there is great potential for Sri Lankan products in Australia and
the purpose of this mission is for the Australians to explore business
opportunities in Sri Lanka and to create an awareness amongst the
Sri Lankan business community about potential for Sri Lankan products
in Australia. He addressed the gathering on 'Doing Business with Australia' which covered aspects of potential for local products and ways and means of breaking into the Australian market. He touched on the market prospects for clothing, footwear, yarn, textile products, furniture, leather and leather products, foodstuff, tea, rubber products and machinery and equipment in Australia, according to a press release from the chamber. LionAir
flights to Jaffna LionAir and
Serendip Express are joining Expo Aviation which started flights
to Jaffna some weeks back. LionAir took
delivery of its new 48-seater British Aerospace Hawker British aircraft
last week with plans to start flights to Jaffna on September 21
and later to Ampara, Trincomalee and Wirawila. The airline
earlier flew to Jaffna but was forced to halt operations after one
of its planes was shot down by suspected Tamil rebels in 1998. "Our company
wants to ensure speedy and safe travel for locals as well as foreign
tourists", LionAir Group chairman Chandran Rutnam told a press
conference, referring to the company's decision to purchase a British
plane compared to Russian-built planes now used by local carriers. Expo Aviation, a member of the Expolanka group, uses an IL-18 passenger aircraft with a capacity of 100 passengers. Serendip Express, which began flights to Jaffna last week, has invested Rs. 250 million on a 48-seater Antonov 24 and a 100-seater IL 18 to operate 11 flights a week to Jaffna. Premier
Pacific launches super luxury complex The cost of
the project titled 'Premier Pacific Pinnacle' is estimated at Rs.
850 million. Premier Pacific's financial collaborators, NSM Investments
Ltd of Singapore represented by Peter Lee, chairman and Ricky Jay,
Executive Director has pledged additional funding for Premier Pacific
ventures which are currently at conceptual and planning stages,
according to a company statement. "Premier
Pacific Pinnacle would be a pace-setter, and the first of its kind
in Sri Lanka," said Nirosh Perera, Investor and Director-in-Charge
of the project. "We have incorporated the best of two worlds
in this building - the ideal setting for residential and commercial
alike". The new world-class complex is an 11-storied building
with a commercial section and a residential section with complete
segregation between the two. The building has been designed on a 'close to nature' concept from the waterfall and fountain at the entrance to the naturally turfed rooftop garden on the 12th floor, Perera said. The complex will incorporate several unique features hitherto not used in buildings in Sri Lanka. A focal point in the building will be the giant fishtank on the 4th floor food court, which will extend the entire length of a wall. Another exclusive feature of Premier Pacific Pinnacle will be the pressurised fire staircase in the building, ensuring a smoke-free escape route. A special feature of the building will be the steel spiral staircase and glazed curtain wall (curved glass) at the entrance of the building and rising upto the 4th floor, the statement added. (RC) FACETS
2002 draws the crowds Ravi Karunanayake,
Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs opening the exhibition
said the government would consider the possibility of providing
additional financial assistance to this industry. He also invited
the businessmen to come forward with any problems faced by them
relating to the introduction of VAT. "Sri Lanka
should not limit itself to mere export-import trade but rather step
forward and try to make Sri Lanka a good manufacturing base,"
the minister told members of the gem and jewellery trade. Guests of honour
Rashmikant Durlabhji from India and Junichiro Kotani from Japan
also spoke at the industry's 12th consecutive exhibition. According to FACETS organisers, there has been a tremendous response for bookings at next year's show. (TM) CNCI
in deal with S. African chamber The two chambers
want to enhance co-operation between their organisations in the
field of exports, imports, investment, business information and
other commercial activity, a CNCI statement said. The two organisations
would help each other to hold trade exhibitions and fairs to promote
products between them, and disseminate trade and market information
to members of both organisations. They also plan to promote the exchange of visits by business delegations to expand bilateral trade and support visitors endorsed by each other's organisations. Learning
trading with Athwelage Sarath First of all,
we must know where we are going. We need to decide what our business
will be. Otherwise, as the Cheshire Cat told Alice (in the Wonderland,
where else), "if you don't know where you want to go, it does
not matter which road you take!" He did not rub this in by
adding "Or where you end up." He must have been a gentleman. What shall
we do as a business? Imagine dear reader my plight. I tell all of
you to select a business idea to suit yourself, your circumstances
and one that has a market. Now, I have to select a business that
has all that, and can be used in demonstrating the planning process.
Without taxing myself too much, I take a short cut by borrowing
a story that Athwela Business Journal created for the purpose of
management education. That is the story of Sarath. At least, that
was what his creator, Athwela Chief Editor, Nihal Dissanayake named
him. Athwela readers have since then renamed him as "Athwelage
Sarath." Since, I have also been involved in this wonderful
creative process, which we proudly call an improvement in the Harvard
Case Study Method, I shall use Athwelage Sarath in this series to
share with you the business planning process. Athwelage Sarath
can be anyone. He has studied up to grade twelve. His father was
a vegetable vendor with a shop front in a small town. After helping
his father for a few years, Sarath went to the Middle East to work
as a driver. He came back after a few years; and now wants to put
his savings into a small business of his own. He wants to
get married. He wants a better lifestyle than his parents gave him
and so, is not interested in going into the same business as his
father, Piyaratne. We understand that it is only natural. Piyaratne's
"kada bakkiya" [vegetable stall] is not doing all that
well anyway. Athwelage Sarath, however, is a practical man. His
own competencies are in driving and knowing a bit about vegetable
retailing. And he knows he can draw upon his father's knowledge,
experience and contacts in sourcing vegetables. So, he has decided
after much deliberation to set up a vegetable retail operation.
His business
will be more in the line of veggie shops. He has the shop front,
which needs to be refurbished. The shop has electricity but no telephone.
He will need more modern equipment like plastic crates for storage,
a weighing machine and a cash register. He is also thinking of getting
a vehicle for his transport purposes. And he will need to hire workers
to help him and his father. In Sarath's
opinion, the people will come if the place is done up and offer
clean and fresh vegetables at fair prices. There is also sufficient
room for parking space for customers. Sarath feels
financial planning is important because he has only Rs. 150,000
in savings. Sarath knows that he cannot do all that he wants with
this money. He is also without a job and has to make his living
while he builds up his business. How Athwelage
Sarath goes about starting his business will be the story we will
use over the next weeks to help us learn the nitty gritties of the
business planning process. At times Sarath's story can get tedious,
so to avoid that and also not to move away from the original concept
of Business@Home, let us also get Sarath's wife-to-be, Sumalee into
the scene and help her think of a new business. How would you
plan if you were in Sarath's shoes? What would you choose as the
business for Sumalee, where she can be around to help Sarath and
still earn something extra for herself? Let us all
get involved in Sarath's story. Think of him as you plan your business.
Planning is a process. If you can help Sarath, you can surely do
it for yourself too. What problems do you think Sarath will face
as he sets out on this long unending journey? Please send your comments
to btimes@wijeya.lk or call us on 074-304100. The writer is the Managing Editor of Athwela Vyaparika Sangarawa (Athwela Business Journal), the only Sinhala management monthly targeting the small and medium sized business operators and its English version, Small Business International to be launched next month. International
Monetary Fund says Sri Lanka's economy at critical juncture In its annual
assessment of Sri Lanka, the IMF forecast the economy would expand
by a modest 3.75-4 percent in 2002 after posting its first contraction
since 1948 last year. The lender also said inflation could be contained
within the 7-8 percent target and that efforts to cut the government's
deficit to 8.5 percent this year should be realised. But despite
that optimism, the IMF noted that bloated spending ahead of the
December 2001 election, large pension and wage increases and overruns
in defence spending left the government with much work to do to
keep the economy on track. "Sri Lanka
is at a critical juncture," the IMF report said. "Despite
recent improvements, the macroeconomic situation remains fragile,
and achieving sustainable high growth requires major adjustments."
Noting that
the resolution of the civil conflict there and the scope for generating
economic growth were closely intertwined, the lender said there
were "significant downside risks" to the outlook. "In particular,
there remain risks of drought, and the long-term electricity shortages
are still a major concern," the report said. "Directors
were also concerned that any resumption of political uncertainties
could slow down the peace momentum, and undermine the fiscal position."
The IMF made
a raft of suggestions to improve the economic outlook. Among them
were containing spending, in particular on wages and defence, reforming
the tax system and tax collection, strengthening the banking system,
increasing the central bank's oversight of banking, more ambitious
privatisation of state-owned businesses and labour-market reforms.
The IMF urged
the Central Bank to avoid further significant easing of interest
rates until it was clear that fiscal consolidation has taken hold
and endorsed the policy of only intervening in currency markets
in order to smoothen exchange-rate volatility. |
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