Private participation urged in education policy

The likelihood of policy changes in the field of education in Sri Lanka requires the involvement of the private sector to build competition. These comments were made by Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara, Vice Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), addressing an Indian School of Business (ISB) session on "Building Entrepreneurial Organizations Across Generations," this week.

"Education is essential to economic progress and is the foundation for business," Nanayakkara said. Mano Selvanathan, Group Director of Carsons Cumberbatch, Tushara Canekeratne, Co-Founder and Advisor of Virtusa Corporation, Udena Wickremasooriya, Director of Brandix Lanka Ltd and Professor K. Ramachandran of ISB and moderator for the session made up the rest of the panel.

The panelists were in unison commended the impressive achievements of ISB in only six years in dedicating itself to providing the best management education in the Asian region and grooming future leaders for India and the world in a state of the art campus. ISB's Governing Board is a veritable who's who of the business world including, Chairman and CEO of the Goldman Sachs Group Lloyd C. Blankfein, President and CEO of GE India Scott Bayman, and Chairman and CEO of the Bechtel Group Riley Bechtel, to name a few.
ISB's Executive Board comprises business powerhouses such as Chairman and CEO of the Mittal Steel Company Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Energy Limited Anil Ambani and Chairman of Bajaj Auto Limited Rahul Bajaj. ISB is also associated with the Kellogg School of Management, the Wharton School and London Business School.

ISB offers a one year Post Graduate Programme, a Post Doctoral Research Fellowship Programme and short-term Open and Customized Executive Programmes. The ISB programmes bring a cutting-edge focus on entrepreneurship, technology, managing and emerging markets, and leadership and change management – all areas of tremendous relevance. The involvement of business leaders in curriculum development has given learning at the ISB a pragmatic approach with a clear business focus. The school's curriculum focuses on managing business in fast-evolving environments, with strong emphasis on entrepreneurship, the impact of technology on commerce, and managing the emerging markets of Asia."

Professor Ramachandran of ISB said only 10% of organizations survive past 10 years so it is essential to understand how they are built as well as understand that they also have to keep up with a rapidly changing world. "Growing and building an organization is not easy," he said. "The systems and processes have to be dynamic." According to Ramachandran, most regional businesses are family businesses which come with their own unique set of obstacles and challenges to overcome.

Mano Selvanathan, Group Director of Carsons Cumberbatch, a third generation business addressed the audience on some of these challenges. "Some of the largest organizations in the world are family owned," Selvanathan said citing TATA and Birla as examples. They all start off small but through proper management and corporatizing and professionalizing which are they keys to sustaining a business, these organizations have transformed into what they are today. Selvanathan also spoke of problems which may arise in family businesses such as shareholding procedures, performance evaluations for family members, succession and succession management, competition and rivalries. Tushara Canekeratne, Co-Founder and Advisor of Virtusa Corporation as well as the winner of the ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year for 2006,’ told the gathering that people practices, growth and opportunities are essential in the business world. "The goal is to create a team or company that can sustain itself," she said, adding that that constant preparation is required to keep ahead.

Professor Nanayakkara said he felt that businesses in Sri Lanka do not understand the need for competition and therefore, it is also lacking when it comes to business education. According to him, competition is outward and should be proactive and should be used for strategic superiority. "Sri Lanka needs positivism. There is too much talk of the negative," he said. It is customary for Sri Lankans to avoid decisions, procrastinate, and delay. It is also regular for Sri Lanka's to be inward looking and miss opportunities such as the information, industrial and technology revolutions. It is also usual for Sri Lankans to be passive and dependent on others to make decisions for them. "However, India is bringing tomorrow to Sri Lanka and we can't be aloof to the changes in the region," Nanayakkara said.