Sri Lanka Retail Forum 2017 kicks off; best minds to share key insights today

Sri Lanka Retail Forum 2017, which was inaugurated last evening, has lined up the 20 best global and local retail industry minds to share their insights, make recommendations and discuss how Sri Lanka can transform itself into a regional retail hub, during today’s sessions.

The forum, organised by the Sri Lanka Retailers Association, an affiliated trade body of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, is the first such event to be held in Sri Lanka focusing in-depth on the country’s retail sector.

The highly regarded resource persons, who will take center stage during the event, represent the multi-disciplinary segments of the retail sector and will speak across the planned sessions, which are titled ‘Changing Dynamics of the New Consumer’, ‘Reaching the New Consumer with Digital Dynamism’, ‘Innovation in Retail Operations’ and ‘Masterclass on Emerging Issues’.

Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Honorary Chairperson, Central, Pattana, Thailand and the former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and former Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, will deliver the keynote address, while John Glover, Founder and CEO of Global Consulting Services and the former Head, Woolworths, Australia; Sharang Pant - Country Director, A.C. Nielsen; Ruvini Fernando - Director/CEO, Guardian Fund Management; Fazal Ashfaq - Country Lead, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Google; Tina Doran - Vice President, Merchant Development and Acceptance AP, MasterCard Singapore; Uma Rajamantri - CEO, Splendor Media; Suren Sornalingam - Vice President, Sales and Operations, Info-CTRL, former head of Operations, Kingfisher Plc, UK; Dr. Ranjiva Munasinghe - Managing Director, Argyle X; Steven Mayes - Managing Director, Jones Lang Lasalle; Prof. Tony Bendell - Leading Trainer, The Anti-Fragility Academy and Managing Director at Services Ltd; Nissanga Warnapura - Head of Innovation, Hela Clothing and Sankalpa Gamwarige - Vice President, Engineering, Zone 24x7 are all lined up to speak at the sessions.

Murali Prakash - Group Managing Director, CEO, Taprobane Holdings Plc and Lanka Century Investments Plc; Mehraj Sally - Group Director, CMO, MyDeal.lk Ltd. and Ajith Amarasekera - CEO, Swarnamahal Jewellers Ltd. will moderate the sessions, while the welcome address will be delivered by Hussain Sadiq - Chairman, Sri Lanka Retailers’ Association and the introductory remarks will be given by Sidath Kodikara - Chairman, Organising Committee of the Sri Lanka Retail Forum 2017.

Three hundred and fifty retail and associate sector representatives are taking part in the event.  - Pix by Upul Abayasekara