The Management Club, Sri Lanka completes 19 years

CMI Past President (1999-2001) and TMC Founder President and President Emeritus Fayaz Saleem

Chartered Management Institute Past President and TMC VP (2002-2003) Anil Weeratunge

TMC Board of Management President (2020-2021) Deepal Abeysekera

Introduction

Nearly 19 years ago, the outgoing President of the Chartered Management Institute-UK, Sri Lanka Branch, Fayaz  Saleem made an observation that two institutions were required to be initiated in Sri Lanka to address some of the weaknesses encountered with professional managers who needed to develop their personalities, work ethics and leadership skills through constant interaction with those in their fields and also those in other disciplines to emerge as good managers.   

The first need was that of a leadership institute, which is yet to be born and of immense importance. The other was the formation of a management club, not as a social club but one where the mid-level managers and those in the higher rungs such as  GMs, CEOs and MDs could meet, interact, keep abreast of new developments in management through networking and participation at regular management forums and add value to themselves and their business.

These observations resulted in the incoming CMI committee, headed by the President of  Year 2001/2002 Anil Weeratunga teaming together to form the  first Management Club on 12 February 2002 at a ceremony at the Galle Face Hotel officiated by Chief Guest Linda Duffield, then British High Commissioner for Sri Lanka. The inaugural general meeting of the Club was held on 5 March 2002 with a special ceremony to unveil the founder members plaque.  

Today, TMC as it is popularly known has among its membership, managers of all levels representing the cream of practically all professional firms in the country. With a combined membership of around 500, the Chartered Management Institute-UK, Sri Lanka Branch and The Management Club strive to bring management practices and business ethics to international standards and heights of excellence which in turn filters down to the organisations represented by individual members for the betterment of the individual manager, their organisation and the country.

Vision and objectives

The vision of TMC is to bring together professional managers in order that they may interact with one another within, develop their potential management, leadership and business skills to the fullest and make a substantial contribution to society.

Its objectives are to provide an opportunity for the growing population of professional managers to meet and greet regularly through interacting programs of value and worth meant to infuse, sharpen and develop managerial, leadership and business skills beneficial to its members all year round through management presentations and other fora, to provide an acceptable, congenial venue for members and their families to mingle with exclusive access and use of certain facilities free or at discounted rates.

Structure

The Management Club (TMC) is a not-for-profit limited liability company acting as a holding company which extends its franchise to different Clubs or other committees. It has a structure comprising a President nominated by TMC, three Vice Presidents nominated by The Chartered Management Institute and six Vice Presidents nominated by the President. The President is allowed to select six Vice Presidents to perform more functional roles within TMC. 

Franchisee club structure

Individual clubs as franchisees would comprise a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary Treasurer and an Executive committee of seven members. TMC’s sub-committees plan and implement special events continuously to strengthen the knowledge and skills of the management fraternity.

TMC operates from five clubs

TMC Colombo at Suite 202, 204 and 206, Galadari Hotel, formerly known as TMC Galle Face (principal club established February 2002);

TMC Mt. Lavinia at the Berjaya Mount Royal Beach Hotel, Mt. Lavinia, Sri Lanka.

This Club commenced in September 2002 at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel. After two years of operation at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, TMC moved to larger premises at the Berjaya Mount Royal Beach Hotel, Mount Lavinia in December 2004.  

TMC Kalutara at the Hibiscus Beach Hotel, Kalutara, Sri Lanka. This is was the third Club inaugurated on 1 June 2009 for the benefit of professionals in and around the South Western Province of Sri Lanka. The TMC Kalutara is currently inactive.

TMC Negombo at the Camelot Beach Hotel, Negombo, Sri Lanka was the fourth Club to be inaugurated on 20 June 2009 to serve professionals in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka. The most recent club was TMC Wattala at the Pegasus Reef Hotel in November 2019.

All TMC’s Management Clubs offer a host of benefits to members including discounts on food and beverages and substantial discounts on other services offered by the hotels. Facilities include board rooms, meeting rooms, family rooms and lounge equipped with telephones, administrative staff, hotel service staff, broadband TV, etc. between 9 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. 

Discounts of up to 20% are available on food and beverages at both locations. The hotels offer discounts of up to 25% during season and 50% off season on rooms and up to 20% on laundry. Discounted rates of consumables are available at the business centres. The Clubs specifically serve as a popular venue for management programs, special events, fellowship and family events. Special rates may be negotiated by members for banquets and conferences.

More associate/reciprocal Clubs are planned in some regions out of Colombo and in due course, members may enjoy reciprocal facilities irrespective of the Club they are registered with, and would be free to visit such locations and enjoy exclusive benefits on production of their membership card. TMC Host Hotel in Jaffna has been identified.

Membership to TMC

Membership to the Club is by invitation. The criteria for eligibility are a minimum of three years in management with academic or professional qualifications or a minimum of five years in management with no academic or professional qualifications. 

Membership categories

a) Ordinary (annual subscribing members)

b) Associate membership (young/youth managers below 35 years)

c) Spouse membership

d) Platinum membership

e) Corporate membership

f) Life membership (currently suspended)

Management-related activities 

TMC has held numerous management-related evening programs and day workshops aimed at continuously sharpening knowledge and uplifting management practices to international standards. Regular evening presentations have been held on topics such as Effective Management, Leadership, Emerging Challenges in HR, Empowerment, Logistics, Marketing and Branding, IT, Banking, the Hospitality trade, and a host of other areas relevant to management. 

In the year 2008 a series of evening programs commenced titled ‘The Way Forward …’ covering such topics of vital interest to managers in their day-to-day affairs and delving into current economic and political climate and its impact on business. These presentations are made by well-known personalities from large corporate firms as well as local and foreign professional trainers of repute who impart the wealth of their knowledge to young as well as experienced managers. 

 TMC also regularly conducts interesting inter-organisation events such as a Wisdom Quiz where member firms battle out the ultimate Quiz Challenge over a competitive run lasting a few sessions. In 2018 TMC commenced ‘Members Meet’ and ‘Members Speak’; both concepts of TMC are evening programs, and in both, members and guests are invited to participate whereas in Members Speak, TMC members are invited to speak on current topics.

TMC knowledge partners

TMC has signed MOUs with The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and KPMG Sri Lanka together with TMC to organise seminars and workshops to the membership and public on current management topics.

Enable the Disabled (ETD) – a CSR endeavour of TMC 

On very much a humanitarian note apart from all its professional activities, TMC has been engaged in many CSR activities, notably setting up the Enable the Disabled national program to Make Sri Lanka a Disabled-Friendly nation. ETD is now a stand-alone project running a nation-wide program to improve significantly the lives of Sri Lanka’s approximately 1.7 million disabled people working with the support of the public, private firms, NGOs, the Government and all others. The long-term goal would include appropriate public infrastructure to enable disabled persons to move unhampered, public awareness, awareness at grassroots level commencing at school level and places of religious worship and boost entrepreneurship to enable disabled persons to be self-reliant, etc. 

Another of its novel programs encompasses differently-abled people island-wide through the ETD National Dirijaya Programs. Differently abled high achievers, those who have made their mark in the fields of Sports, Education, Entrepreneurship, Music and the Performing Arts, etc., are sourced, recognised and publicly awarded by personalities such as the Prime Minister and other such dignitaries in an effort to encourage those with disabilities to shine in spite of their limitations. 

In July 2013, ETD achieved another ‘first’ – facilitating a musical extravaganza where disabled musicians and singers performed along with Sri Lankan artistes of repute in a medley of song and dance that left the audience enthralled – Dirijaya Prathiba 2013. Proceeds were donated to selected disabled entrepreneurs to alleviate their struggle to make a livelihood which also acted as a motivator for others with skills and ability to push themselves to achieve the maximum of their potential.