Kandy IT/BPM Week acts as catalyst for inclusive growth

With the aim of creating much-needed human resource capacity for the IT/BPM industry in Sri Lanka, the Kandy IT/BPM Week kicks off this week, spearheaded by SLASSCOM and supported by the Export Development Board (EDB), Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), Ministry of Education (MOE) and University of Peradeniya. 

A follow-up to the highly successful Jaffna IT Week held a year back, this is a series of events that advocates the creation of regional cities to bring about inclusive growth in the country. It will be held from 10-12 June in various locations in and around Kandy. 

Kandy was chosen as the location for the initiative this time around as it has been identified as one of the cities with the potential to be developed as a second tier city, given the infrastructure already in place, connectivity and planned development. It also holds the capacity to generate skilled workforces, which is a pressing need of the IT/BPM industry. 

Collectively, the Kandy IT/BPM Week will reach out to over 2,500 schoolchildren from 70 schools in and around Kandy, 100 exporters and budding entrepreneurs in the Central Province and 500 undergraduates from 15 state universities and private institutions across Sri Lanka. Sampath IT solutions General Manager S. Muralidharen, Tellida Director of Operations Mohommed Hisham and SoftcodeIT Head of Project Management Charitha Jayasinghe are speakers for this event.

The Kandy IT/BPM Week will kick off with the Future Careers Program, which strives to create career awareness among students aged between 15-18 years. It has been held in various locations across the island for several years and this time around too, career counsellors from the IT/BPM industry will have seminars and one-to-one discussions with nearly 2,500 schoolchildren. It will also feature an ‘Innovation Competition’, which will allow students to showcase their inventions to industry experts.  

The second day will feature two events, the IT/BPM Export Forum and Entrepreneurship Workshop and BPM Conference. The first will be held at Queen’s Hotel, Kandy. With the aim of empowering exporters and budding Lankan entrepreneurs, this event will provide valuable insights on leveraging the local ecosystem to build up successful companies and how to take them to the global marketplace.

Speakers and panellists at the IT/BPM Export Forum include SECQUORO Consulting Chief Executive Officer Naresh Abeyesekera, Square Mobile Founder Tharindu Dasanayake, ICTA Program Manager Sachindra Samararatne, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, EDB Director – Export Services Saman Maldeni, 99X Technology Co-Founder and CEO Mano Sekaram, OpenArc Chairman/CEO Daya Hettiarachchi and Ernst & Young Senior Director Praveen Ruberu. 

Calcey Founder and CEO Mangala Karunarathne, StaxInc Managing Director Ruwindhu Peiris, SAIG and Orion Director/CEO Jeevan Gnanam, Cinergix Co-Founder and CEO Chandika Jayasundara, iHelmet Inventor Ganindu Nanayakkara, and Talliance Director Ashique M. Ali will feature at the Entrepreneurship Forum. Both sessions will be facilitated by the Export Development Board and supported by SLASSCOM. 

A new addition to the IT Week initiative, the second event, the BPM Conference, has been introduced to give equal prominence to this rapidly growing sector in Sri Lanka. The speaker line-up will include SAKS global CEO Hariharan Padmanaban, Infomate CEO Jehan Perinpanayagam, Accenture Senior Vice President Virendra Perera, WNS Global Managing Director Dushan Soza, Copal Amba Country Head Chanakya Dissanayake, HSBC GSC Vice President – HR Lasantha Dassanayake, CA Sri Lanka President and Ernst & Young Partner Arjuna Herath and SLASSCOM Executive Director Dharshan Cooray. It will be held at the E.O.E. Pereira Theatre at the University of Peradeniya.

The Kandy IT Week will wrap up with the Kandy IT Conference, held with the objective of bringing together top industry professionals and students. It is geared towards exposing the undergraduates to the core of Sri Lanka’s IT industry. It too will take place at the E.O.E. Pereira Theatre at the University of Peradeniya.

Open to students following IT and Computer Science related degree programs, it will feature MillenniumIT CEO Mack Gill, Microsoft Sri Lanka Country Manager/Managing Director Brian Kealey, IBM Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer/Country General Manager Chrishan Fernando, WSO2 Founder, Chairman and CEO Sanjiva Weerawarana, Zone24x7 CEO and Founder Llavan Fernando, CodeGen CEO and Chief System Architect Harsha Subasinghe, WSO2 Vice President – Research Srinath Perera, ICTA CEO Muhunthan Canagey, Intel EM Ltd. Country Manager Indika De Zoysa, Madu Ratnayake EVP/GM, Sri Lanka Centre Head and Global Head of Digital, Virtusa and IFS Sri Lanka President/CEO Jayantha De Silva. 

Official radio partners and TV station for the Kandy IT/BPM Week are TV 1, YES FM, Y FM, Sirasa FM. The initiative is also supported by Dialog as Official Telecommunication Partner and Hatton National Bank as the Official Bank. The Kandy IT Conference is co-sponsored by MillenniumIT and IFS, with Intel, CodeGen and 99X Technology coming on board as event sponsors. Event sponsor for the Kandy BPM Conference is Orion City. 

For more information about the IT and BPM conferences, please visit kandyitbpmweek.com or contact Ranuka Kariyawasam via [email protected] or 0114 062223-7. For regular updates on the Kandy IT Week, check out the Facebook page www.facebook.com/kandyitbpm.