Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Thursday, 25 September 2014 00:42 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
From left: Singer Sri Lanka Commercial Director/CSR Lanka Director Mahesh Wijewardene, Brandix Lanka Head of CSR/CSR Lanka Director Anusha Alles, Chamber of Commerce/CSR Lanka Chairman Chandula Abeywickrema, Hayleys Executive Director and Head of Agriculture Sector/ CSR Lanka Vice Chairman Rizvi Zaheed, Aitken Spence Director/Chief Human Resources Officer/ CSR Lanka Director Rohan Pandithakorralage and CIC Agri Business CEO/CSR Lanka Director Keerthi Kotagama – Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe
“This conference will kick start our goal of creating a more structured and cohesive CSR strategy for the country and will see the participation of most corporates in the country and a host of renowned speakers, both international and local,” said CSR Lanka Chairman Chandula Abeywickrema.
The founder of CSR International and world-renowned speaker Prof. Wayne Visser will take centre stage speaking on the importance of sustainability leadership. Economist, author and Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies, Professor Saman Kelegama will share his expertise on the national priorities and importance of stakeholder focus.
The other notable speakers include Brandix Lanka Ltd. Director Udena Wickremesooriya, Ambuja Cement, India Joint Vice President of CSR Pearl Tiwari and Foundation of Goodness Founder and Trustee Kushil Gunasekara. The conference will also include two panel discussions. The first will focus on collaboration featuring Udena Wickremesooriya; Claire Deevy, Head of CSR, Microsoft Asia Pacific; Sutheash Balasubramanium Focal Point, UN Global Compact Sri Lanka Network and Priyanthi Fernando, Executive Director, Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), moderated by Tharaka Ranwala, DGM – Marketing and Business Development at Sampath Bank PLC.
The second plenary session will focus on resilience in CSR efforts and will include Pearl Tiwari; Prof. Tom Widger, Associate Researcher (Anthropology) at the University of Sussex; Ganesan Ampalavanar, Managing Director, Nestle Lanka PLC and Deshal de Mel, Senior Economist at Hayleys Group lead by Eranda Ginige, Head of Partnerships and Business Development at the British Council.
“We have a large group of speakers – both national and international and they all bring a lot of experience in CSR among other areas of expertise which will be the ideal platform to start the first phase of understanding the importance of a cohesive and strategic CSR structure for the private sector, and also initiate the initial networking opportunity to get things started,” added Abeywickrema.
Tickets priced at Rs. 12,500 will be available at the CSR Lanka Conference Secretariat (No. 45, Silva Road, Rajagiriya). For more information contact Shiong on 0721 644 969 or Shamnika on 0712 644 939 or visit www.csrsrilanka.lk.
The conference will be preceded by an intensive workshop in association with MVO Nederland – the largest CSR business network in Europe, and renowned as a knowledge centre for CSR for 30 of Sri Lanka’s top CSR contributors. The two day workshop scheduled for 30 September will cover a range of topics including, best global practices in CSR, research and analyses from studies by both CSR Lanka and MVO Nederland, strategies and the way forward for CSR Lanka and participating companies.
Following the conference, CSR Lanka hopes to set up a platform for resource sharing, build a network of organisations to facilitate relevant partnerships, develop a framework to assess the effectiveness and value through varied CSR efforts along with a standard that encapsulates the core concepts of sustainability and shared value creation.
