It’s time to go to Jaffna

By Jude Joseph

Nineteen years ago, TMC was inaugurated in Colombo, to address some of the weaknesses encountered by professional managers who needed to develop their personalities, work ethics and leadership skills through constant interaction with those who excelled in their own fields and in other disciplines, to emerge as good managers. We have come a long way since inception with 500 plus members with Clubs in Colombo, Mt. Lavinia, Wattala, and Negombo offices covering the Western Province. We are proud to say that TMC has conducted more than 2,500 programs and events for the members and business community.

In the 70s and early 80s, Jaffna remained a very thriving hub with entrepreneurial activities in SME size manufacturing, agriculture produce, fishing, etc. Jaffna district was the largest growing urban town next to Colombo in contribution to the national economy. Unfortunately, the 30 years of civil war had put the brakes towards the contribution to the economic growth and most of the home-grown enterprises in Jaffna were destroyed along with the brain drain of educated and skilled population migrating to the western world.

Now, Jaffna is making a valiant effort to bounce back to its old glory. Within the last decade, with most of the Colombo-based business houses and banks opening their branches, investments are trickling in to improve the per capita of the population. The Government has allocated a significant amount of resources in its 2021 budget at the national level towards building technological infrastructure, techno parks, opportunities for vocational education and distance learning, support for tourism industry and development of renewable energy are to name a few. Such developmental programs at the national level will have its ripple effect and the regions should equip themselves to make optimum utilisation of the Initiatives of the Government. 

Under such circumstances, there will be a significant demand from both public and private sector towards upskilling human resource to optimise the opportunities arising from the initiatives taken by the Government. Under such circumstances, both professional skills and soft skills will become imperative with regard to execution of set goals and objectives. While the universities and professional educational institutions look after the former, the nurturing and enhancement of the soft skill development should neither left in the lurch nor ignored. This is where TMC is taking the initiative to contribute towards filling the gap, in conjunction with its objectives.

With the help of the TMC sponsors, professional associates and knowledge partners, TMC shall conduct training and development programs through seminars, workshops on soft skills development. The identified areas include Emotional Intelligence, Situational Leadership, Team Player Attitude, Growth Mindset, Openness to Feedback, Adaptability, Active Listening, Work Ethics, etc. The proposed formation of TMC Jaffna Club will be taking up many initiatives for both the managerial and executive personnel to improve and enhance their contribution to their organisation while working in their domain professional line. TMC is in an enviable position to draw some of the best leaders from the corporate sector of the country as members and associates who are willing to extend helping hand to all the programs in order to share their vast spectrum of knowledge, practical experience and skills to the future generation. 

The Board of Management of TMC has made a formal visit to Jaffna in the month of October 2020 and have discussed with some of the potential future members who will form the core of the membership and the response has been quite overwhelming. Further, one of the leading hotels in Jaffna has agreed to house the TMC Jaffna secretariat at their premises. Unfortunately, the current COVID-19 lockdown situation has significantly curtailed the progress, momentum and the progressive activities of opening of the Jaffna branch. However, the Board of Management of TMC is hopeful to launch the Jaffna operations by next year subject to the improvement of the restrictions and conditions currently prevailing in the country.