FCCISL elects first-ever woman president

The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL), the country’s most widespread business lobby group, will this week elect its first ever woman President,

Shirley Jayawardena.

Jayawardena, a product of Central Province Women’s Chamber of Small Industry and Commerce and Central Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will take over the helm at the FCCISL, the apex body of the Sri Lankan chamber movement established in 1973, at the 45th Annual General Membership meeting on 6 March.  Jayawardena, a long-standing and well-known chamber activist in Sri Lanka and also in the SAARC region, served as Senior Vice President (SVP) of FCCISL, Vice President (VP) of South Asia Women’s Development Forum (Sri Lanka Chapter) in Nepal, and Executive Committee Member of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Pakistan. 

She has also been appointed as Vice Chair at the Sri Lanka Chapter of SAARC Council of Women Entrepreneurs (SCWEC), affiliated to SAARC Chamber Of Commerce and Industry in Pakistan.

She started her career as a businesswoman and formed Media Vision Ltd., which published Kandy News - the oldest regional newspaper in the island. At present, she functions as Chairperson at Algotect Trading Ltd. and Wisewell Lanka Ltd., two global trading companies based in USA.

She is also a social worker and holds the position of Deputy Cabinet Secretary of Lions International District 306 C1, and is a member of the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital Committee. She also served as a Director of the Indo-Sri Lanka Cultural Association for several years and on the Governing Board of the Post-Graduate Institute of Science at Peradeniya University, as well as serving as the Assistant Secretary of the Joint Alliance of the Central Provincial Council and the Central Province Business Leaders committee. She is also a Committee Member of the Kandy Business Community Public Private Dialogue at Kandy Municipal Council.

Jayawardena has widely travelled and has addressed many international business forums on behalf of FCCISL. She is a Member of the Institute of Management of Great Britain.