WCIC’s Empowering Women Leadership Forum in March

The morning session promises an enriching experience with a keynote speech on ‘Inspire Inclusion for Economic Prosperity’ by Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe, Chair and Senior Professor of English and Founder Director of the Centre for Gender Studies, University of Kelaniya. 

The agenda further includes an impactful address by CIPE Director Barbara Langley, focusing on creating a work environment free from GBVH. Her thoughts are likely to capture the extensive engagements the WCIC has, related to the work is the space.

Celebrating empowerment and leadership, the Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce Sri Lanka (WCIC) is gearing to present its much-anticipated Women Leadership Forum 2024, on March 14, 2024.
Themed ‘#InspireInclusion - Count Her In’, it is to be held at Grand Ballroom, Galadari Hotel, Colombo, as a fully immersive one-day workshop for women in business. 

The WCIC announced the support of McKinsey & Company as the Knowledge Partner and Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) as the Collaborative Partner. These partnerships reflect the commitment to fostering inclusion and leadership among women and their continuous support to the WCIC.

Sharing thoughts on the upcoming event, WCIC Chairperson Anoji De Silva said, “The Women Leadership Forum is a much looked forward to event by our entrepreneurs as well as the corporates that engage with us. It is a flagship event for the chamber. We structure this event around the International Women’s Day theme applicable for the year and ensure the content relevant to the theme unfolds, keeping the audience completely engaged, so that they walk back into their respective workplace with a wealth of knowledge, to enhance personal and business performance. We are honoured to have Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe deliver the keynote address.” 

“WLF 2024 of the WCIC will focus on inclusion. We will focus on some critical areas that hamper inclusion in organisations. One such area is gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) at the workplace. The chamber actively drives the agenda to create work places free from GBVH in collaboration with CIPE.

We intent to share some very interesting research findings through an extensive qualitative research the chamber conducted. The event will also consist of a Centred Leadership workshop by McKinsey & Co, which will be extremely valuable to all participants,” commented Project Chair Tusitha Kumarakulasingam.

The WCIC will share with the audience research insights, related to GBVH and the current limitations in organisations when it comes to a safe place to work. 

Attorney at Law and Activist Naushalya Rajapakse will touch on the current reality in Sri Lanka related to GBVH.
The official launch of the WCIC website, supported by the USAID CATALYZE Sri Lanka Private Sector Development Activity, is part of the agenda.
As the afternoon unfolds, the participants will have the privilege of taking part in a Centred Leadership facilitated by Vidhya Ganesan, Partner/Managing Partner at McKinesy, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with Suchita Prasad. This workshop revolves around the proprietary ‘Centred Leadership Model’. It emphasises self-awareness and choice, enabling leaders to tap into purpose and vision, shift habitual patterns into a learning stance, create collective relationships, step up with intention and sustain transformational growth.

The event is strengthened by Strategic partnerships of USAID and Eva and Gold Partners Commercial Bank, Oxford Collage of Business and Sunshine Holdings, with Daily FT as the Print Media Partner.
The WCIC annually hosts the Leadership Forum to unite women from diverse fields, providing them a platform to learn, share, network and grow.

The forum is set to take place at Grand Ballroom, Galadari Hotel, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with registrations commencing at 8:30 a.m. Tickets for this empowering experience are priced at Rs.9500 and reservations can be made by contacting 076 684 8080. 

The WCIC is the national chamber for women in business in Sri Lanka. It is a premier organisation supporting entrepreneurs and professional business-women. The membership is open to women, who believe they can contribute to society as well as benefit from the many facilities the organisation creates.

The WCIC Women Leadership Forum is a flagship event of the chamber; the other is WCIC Prathibhasheka, which aims to recognise and reward outstanding women entrepreneurs, who make a contribution to the economy.