Brand Fundamentals, a workshop towards growing Sri Lankan brands, jointly organised by Informatics Holdings Ltd and the Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT), was held recently at Ramada, Colombo. 
Focusing on creating, managing and growing brand value, the event conducted by renowned brand consultant Nicholas Kühne, saw a large number of enthusiasts including business owners, senior executives, marketing directors and entrepreneurs representing the apparel, construction and IT-BPO industries actively participate.
Following a step-by-step process on building powerful brands, the workshop also covered pertinent topics such as digital in brand building as well as the generational transition in family-owned businesses. 
The founder and owner of brand consultancy Wunderbrand, Nicholas Kühne has a BA in Marketing Communications from the University of Johannesburg. A Chartered Marketer, his consulting experience spanning over 15 years includes a client portfolio of renowned brands in Africa, the Gulf as well as the Subcontinent. Having played an integral role in making Nando’s one of the best success stories in Africa, Kühne also launched Comedy Central in the region.  
The idea for this workshop was born during one of the keynote speeches delivered by Kühne in Mauritius. His insightful take on ‘Creating Great African Brands’ was seen by Informatics Holdings as an area that was timely, relevant and easily translatable into a Sri Lankan context.  
Speaking on the need for a masterclass in brand building, Informatics Holdings Group Managing Director Hiran Wickramasinghe said, “As a homegrown company, at Informatics we are well attuned to the needs of local industries, not only from an IT perspective but also from the point of view of the challenges they face with global brands. A workshop on brand strategy, especially seen through the lens of an emerging market as opposed to the usual UK and US brands was a much-needed forum.”
Sharing his thoughts on the session, Kühne commented saying, “I believe that the world shouldn’t rely solely on brands from the US or Europe. And for brands from emerging markets to be successful, they need to make brand strategy a core area of focus. However, the cost to do so is generally a hurdle and through this workshop conducted in partnership with Informatics Holdings and IIT, I hope to eliminate that to some extent.”
Informatics Holdings was founded with the vision to empower businesses in the ICT age. Winning numerous accolades for its service, for over three decades, it has provided cutting-edge IT solutions to corporations operating in the areas of banking and financial, telecommunication, insurance, business and trade the world over as well as the Government of Sri Lanka.