CIM UK Chairman rates Sri Lankan marketing talent as very high

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam

Visiting CIM UK Chairman Andrew Harvey yesterday rated Sri Lanka’s marketing talent as being very high, but urged firms to continue investing in training and continuous improvements to better respond to challenging local and global environments.

Marking his first visit outside the United Kingdom since being appointed as Chairman of CIM, Harvey said Sri Lanka is CIM’s biggest overseas region with a quarter of the students hailing from Sri Lanka.

“I rate Sri Lanka’s marketing talent very highly,” said Harvey who is on a six-day visit. Today he will bestow the prestigious chartered marketer status to 46 professionals at the Annual Chartered Marketer Forum. Yesterday he felicitated three top prize winners from Sri Lanka.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the world’s largest and most prestigious professional body for marketing with over 50,000 members worldwide.

In response to a Daily FT poser as to what the challenges are for marketers in Sri Lanka, Harvey’s response was "marketing people need to do a better job in conveying the message that what they do to the business add value to the overall profitability."

See full interview in tomorrow’s FT.