Seated at the table - State Minister for Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms, Hon. Ajith Nivard Cabraal (centre); Thayalan Bartlett, Convener, MarCom Collective (seated to the left of the Minister); Arjuna Herath, Senior Partner and Head of Consulting, Ernst & Young, Sri Lanka and Maldives; Sulaiman Nishtar, Partner - Tax Services, Ernst & Young, Sri Lanka; Rodney Fernando, Manager – Business Advisory Services, Ernst & Young Sri Lanka; R. M. A. Ratnayake, Secretary to the State Minister for Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms (seated to the right of the Minister); Rohan Rajaratnam, Convener, MarCom Collective; and Santhush Weeraman, President – Video and Film Production Association (VAFPA).

A team of senior representatives from the MarCom Collective and Ernst & Young Sri Lanka met with Hon. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, State Minister for Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms, recently.

This meeting was the latest in the Collective’s ongoing engagements with stakeholders in the government and the industry to apprise them of the marketing communications sector’s contribution to the economy, which has largely gone unnoticed.

The MarCom Collective is a group of 9 associations and businesses and professionals from across the Marketing Communications industry which comprises of 12 sectors viz. Advertising, Market Research, Event Management, Photography, Video & Audio Productions, Media Planning, Digital, Public Relations, Outdoor Advertising, Tele / Broadcast Media (TV, Print, Radio and on-line media), Activations and Printing & Packaging. They came together following the devastating impact of COVID-19, which heightened the need to identify immediate measures to revive and fortify the industry with policies that will mitigate the effects of the downturn in the business and ensure long-term sustainability post revival.