Reminiscence

Monday, 21 March 2022 01:52 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Around mid ’90s, a few members of the then ‘Institute of Management –UK’ (IM), all professionals in their own right, met up informally at what was then known as the Taprobane Hotel, since then renamed as the Grand Oriental Hotel. The high calibre professional Sri Lankan membership of IM-UK prompted them to pursue the idea of forming an official Sri Lankan branch affording an opportunity for the membership to interact with one another, which hitherto was not possible or available.

An ad-hoc committee was formed and, upon making a solid and meaningful proposal to the UK, obtained clearance to create the Sri Lanka branch. Ensuing weeks and months saw an extraordinary general meeting of the nearly 200 members of the association at the then TransAsia Hotel, having duly obtained approval from the Institute of Management – UK. Thus began the long and distinguished journey of the Sri Lanka branch of IM-UK, with the installation of the first executive committee at this meeting. 

It did not take long for the privy council in the UK to recognise the objectives of IM and the contribution it was making to the development of professional management and leadership with over 160,000 members worldwide. Thus, IM-UK was transformed into the ‘Chartered Management Institute’ and is now popularly referred to as ‘CMI-UK.’

A few years into the activities of the CMI-SL branch, the then President of the ex-co Fayaz Saleem, realised the need to have a more relaxed environment for the members to meet, greet, exchange knowledge and experiences, and a platform for young professionals to further their management and leadership capabilities. This thought resulted in the formation of ‘The Management Club’ or ‘TMC’ as popularly known, under the auspices of the CMI Sri Lanka branch ex-co then. The proposal was seconded unreservedly by the 1st VP of the CMI-SL branch Anil Weeratunga. Both Fayaz, together with Anil, supported by a few other members, took the challenge to make TMC a reality. 

Venue, membership, sponsorships, drafting governing laws, funding and furniture came about in no time, thanks to the generosity of members, corporates and the team’s determination. Fayaz’s astute leadership, coupled with Anil’s unstinted support, resulted in the TMC is being a reality within a short period. The inauguration took place in 2001 with the Galle Face Hotel as the main Colombo venue. The rest is history, as they say. Twenty years have gone by, and TMC is a much sought-after professional body with many independent clubs, having commenced with only one in Colombo and overlooked by a management board. Fayaz Saleem, the architect of this novel and meaningful idea, continues as the President Emeritus steering the vision along with eminent corporate leaders in its forward quest to be the premier management club in Sri Lanka.


(The writer is a senior founder member of the CMI-UK Sri Lanka branch executive committee.)

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