Exciting line-up of speakers set to steer Chartered Accountants Sri Lanka’s 43rd National Conference

An exciting array of speakers of both national and international fame are set to take the stage at the 43rd National Conference of Chartered Accountants as they share their thoughts and ideas with the country’s professional Accounting community, including business leaders and c-suite executives, to take charge of transformation and help steer the nation out of the ongoing crisis.

The National Conference organised annually by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) and commanding an inspiring history spanning over four decades, will showcase a plethora of experts, including thought leaders, who will steer through five thought provoking sessions on the theme ‘transform.’

The three-day event, which will be kicked off with a ceremonial inauguration on October 12th at the Monarch Imperial, Sri Jayewardenepura, will be followed by two days of technical sessions, where the speakers will discuss and deliberate on the key strategic areas that need transformation, as well as the need for everyone, including individuals, professionals, citizens and society to transform, without which Sri Lanka cannot achieve holistic country-wide transformation.

The technical sessions on 13th and 14th October will revolve around the sessions, namely, Transform Self, Transform Society, Transform Corporate, Transform Country and a Fireside Chat. The experts will deliberate as to why Sri Lanka must transform rather than merely change the status quo while also giving an opportunity for the delegates at the conference, who will join physically and virtually, to pose questions and engage in a healthy exchange of ideas.

 Sri Lanka is today in desperate need of a holistic transformational change; from people-centric to system-centric, from ad hoc to consistent, from opaque to transparent, from lack of unaccountability to definitive accountability; as well as from loose or frivolous decision making to definitive decision making, and thus, the conference will help set the tone to help achieve this.

 Session one on ‘Transform Self’ will be steered by Vidusha Nathavitharana, Destiny Architect, Luminary Learning Solutions, while session two on ‘Transform Society’ will feature Aritha Wickramasinghe, Executive Director & General Counsel, TWC Investment Bank; Equality Director, iProbono; and Randhula de Silva, Founder and CEO, Good Life X (Pvt) Ltd. The third session on ‘Transform Corporate’ will bring together two well-known corporate leaders, Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake, Deputy Chairman & Managing Director (Group CEO), Aitken Spence PLC and Dr. Mahesha Ranasoma, Chief Executive Officer, Global Rubber Industries (Pvt) Ltd, who will share their insights with the delegates.

 The fourth session on ‘Transform Country’ will comprise an exciting array of speakers who will present their vision as to what Sri Lanka must do to overcome the current challenges it faces as a country. The fourth session will kick off with a presentation by Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Former Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, who will speak on ‘Consistent Macro Economic Policy Framework’, followed by Chanaka de Silva, President’s Counsel, Nithya Partners, who will speak on ‘Governance & Accountability’, and Anushka Wijesinha, Economist and Co-Founder, Centre for a Smart Future, who will deliver a speech on ‘Tapping into Global Value Chains.’

Rohan Masakorala, Founder, Shippers’ Academy International, will centre his speech on the ‘Services & Logistics Sector’, while Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, Chair, LIRNEasia, will focus on the ‘Transformation of SOEs,’ and Mahendra Jayasekera, President, Colombo Young Men’s Buddhist Association, will speak on ‘Stakeholder Engagement.’ The fourth session will come to an end with two more enlightening presentations on ‘Accelerating Innovation Eco System’ by Dr. Romesh Ranawana, CEO, Enterprise Machine Learning (Pvt) Ltd and Prof. Ajith de Alwis, Senior Professor of Chemical and Process Engineering; Dean of Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Moratuwa; Acting Chief Innovation Officer, National Innovation Agency

The conference will conclude following a fireside chat focusing on expansion of Sri Lanka’s export base by linking up with Global Manufacturing Value Chains (GMVC), attracting more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and how the country can leverage the logistics sector to maximising its advantage, especially due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean. The fireside chat will feature several session speakers as well as Sunil Handunnetti, former MP and former Chairman of COPE, Dinesh Weerakkody, Advisor on Treasury Affairs to the President of Sri Lanka and Chairman of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission, while the session will be moderated by Channa Gunasekera, Director, Group Finance, Laugfs Holdings. Founded in the year 1979 by CA Sri Lanka, the National Conference is dubbed Sri Lanka’s biggest business summit, attracting over 2000 delegates annually, including business leaders and c-suite executives. 

The conference is a flagship event of CA Sri Lanka and is also one of the most sought-after corporate events as it facilitates the exchange of profound expertise with local and foreign resource people every year.  For more information on the conference visit www.casrilanka.com