Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT) conducted a Strategic Planning Review Workshop recently at the EFL Campus. 

WiLAT Chairperson Gayani de Alwis steered the workshop for the newly elected Executive Committee. At the workshop, Gayani shared the journey thus far and the future plans of WiLAT by aligning the actions under the respective Vice Chairpersons. 

The three Vice Chairs Anoma Ranasinghe, Niroza Gazzali and Dhashma Karunaratne presented their strategies for membership services, membership development and branding and promotion, respectively. 

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Chairman Capt. Lasitha Cumaratunga and CILT South Asia International Vice President Romesh David also addressed the committee members at the workshop and commended WiLAT for their contribution to the CILT. Furthermore, they also stressed on the need to conduct more value-adding offerings to the membership in order to have a significant growth in the membership. 

Membership Services Vice Chairperson Ranasinghe mentioned, “To enhance career success and keep power network strong and to make that significant difference; WiLAT membership services need to provide a unique strength to our members.”

Adding to this, Membership Development Vice Chairperson Gazzali stated, “The membership development team is looking at possibilities to attract new members and retain the existing membership by redefining the value creation the CILT has to offer.”

Branding and Promotion Vice Chairperson Karunaratne further stated, “The branding and promotion strategy will align with the manifestos of membership services and development to position themselves as against a unique platform to reckon with and will work hand in hand with the teams to collaborate and position WiLAT towards the overall objectives of the CILT.” 

The commitment and active participation of the ExCo at the workshop enabled WiLAT to develop the future strategy and the Chairperson urged the ExCo to support these initiatives as WiLAT completes four years next year. The main objective of WiLAT is to promote and encourage the art and science of logistics and transport. WiLAT is part of an ever expanding global network within CILT. The global launch of WiLAT was held on June 3, 2013 in Sri Lanka during the CILT International convention. Currently, WiLAT is present in 17 countries with over 1800 members in the global network which is expanding rapidly. 

WiLAT Sri Lanka is one of the five pioneering fora of the global network and was established on March 21, 2013. The underlying mission of WiLAT is to provide a forum for women engaged in the industry to network and provide opportunities for career advancement and to empower women to become leading professionals in the industry. WiLAT also emphasises to create awareness on career opportunities in the industry, provide access to information sources on continuous professional development, provide networking opportunities to share best practices, provide training and mentoring opportunities to make a positive contribution, continuously develop and nurture a talent pipeline for the industry and to drive change in industry through diversity.

The strategic planning workshop conducted by WiLAT enabled to pin down the three key areas with strategies, goals and objectives for membership services, membership development and branding and promotion with the overall goals of increasing membership, value offerings and benefits to the CILT membership platforms.