TMC moves to Excel World

By Rashika Fazali

After 10 years of existence and conducting many social gatherings and management events, The Management Club (TMC) Colombo reopened their club at Excel World having shifted from their principal premises, Galle Face Hotel.

Under the auspices of the Chartered Management Institute UK Sri Lanka branch (CMI UK), the outgoing president of CMI UK at that time and President Emeritus and Founder Fayaz Saleem had a vision to build a leadership institute and a management club. He understood the need to have one – to help professionals sharpen their skills. The result was the TMC.

The reason behind the need for a TMC was to bring together professional mangers in order for them to meet, greet and most importantly network with others amongst building better professional skills. In other words, it stands as a platform to exchange ideas.   

The meeting held at Excel World was organised to welcome their club members to their new premises, having held prior meetings at Galle Face Hotel for the last 10 years. The move to a well-known entertainment park was based on the exciting privileges and deals a place like such offers to club members.  Their new premises consist of two meeting rooms and a board room. They also held a resolution to rename the club from TMC Galle Face to TMC Colombo.

Moreover, this gathering was also held to introduce the new member classifications – one that allows junior managers under 30 years old into the club and the other that allows the member’s spouse or significant other to become a part of the club under a certain criteria.

In order for these persons to become a member of the TMC, they have to be academically and professionally qualified. The other criterion includes the person to have a minimum work experience of three years. However, TMC membership is by invitation.

Saleem reasoned out on why these additions were in fact added this year, stating, “We want to encourage young members to come into the circle, to learn and to benefit from others.”

This year they also invited 10 new members into club, but getting an invitation is one thing, and being a part of the club is another. These 10 invitees will go through an interview and only the best candidates will be chosen to be a part of TMC.

Like any club, TMC has entrance fees and annual fees. Their entrance fee from Rs. 10,000 was raised to Rs. 15,000 this year while the former Rs. 5,000 annual fee was raised to Rs. 10,000. However for a junior manager, the former entrance fee and annual fee is applied. In case of a member’s spouse/significant other, it is half of the member’s fees.

Within the last 10 years, TMC has extended to three other parts in Sri Lanka; one in Mount Lavinia based at Berjaya Mount Royal Beach Hotel, another in Kalutara based at Hibiscus Beach Hotel and the final one in Negombo which is based at Camelot Beach Hotel. Overall, TMC has a total of 400 members. Saleem mentioned that TMC has signed with Kandy, Mahaweli Reach Hotel as their host hotel and is currently at the initial stage. He also further said Galle is in their list and they would also like to open clubs that are not only extended out to the English-speaking parties, but of Tamil and Sinhala.

In the past, TMC has done many management programs, evening talks by well-known personalities like Martin Roll, motor rallies and quizzes such as TMC Wisdom Quiz. They also run a national program called ‘Enable the disabled’ that look towards making Sri Lanka a disabled friendly nation.

In terms of management growth over the years, Saleem said there have certainly been a lot of changes, but the changes aren’t enough. He stated, “The future is all about networking. If you don’t network, you can’t be successful as networking is the key for leadership success.”

Pix by Upul Abayasekara