CA Sri Lanka’s 37th National Conference to be held next month

From left: National Conference Technical Committee 2016 Chairman Anoji De Silva, CA Sri Lanka Vice President Jagath Perera, CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe, National Conference Committee Chairman Tishan Subasinghe, CA Sri Lanka CEO Secretary Aruna Alwis.                                           Pic by Damith Wickramasinghe

By Zahara Zuhair
The 37th National Conference, organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) themed ‘Unleashed Thinking’ is scheduled for October. 
CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe said that he believes the country can boost its standing as a global player, by encouraging and promoting entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, which will help take Sri Lanka to the next level.
He said that the conference goes beyond conventional norms and provokes thoughts and spurs insights into broad issues, apart from the core emphasis on finance related topics.
As a country, he said that there is a great potential to be a global player, but reaching the true potential takes a lot of hard work and innovation which has to be spearheaded by the business leaders and corporates. 
Although a relatively new concept, an intrapreneur is known as someone who serves as an employee of a company and has the ability to spearhead reinventing themselves and take advantage of new opportunities, he explained. 
“We like to promote entrepreneurship among our members, we believe our country is in need of entrepreneurs,” National Conference Committee Chairman Tishan Subasinghe said. 
He said around 1,500 leading businesses would participate in the conference, noting that this will be an inspiration for young members who want to be an entrepreneur.
National Conference Technical Committee 2016 Chairman Anoji De Silva said that as Sri Lanka is ranked as an ‘Efficiency- driven’ economy in the World Economic Forum, The Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016, along with other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, China, now its aim should be to transit to an ‘Innovation-driven’ economy like USA and Singapore to be a true global player.
“In that context, we came up with the theme. We believe we have to think big and different. As a nation, we have to draw a development plan that is unique to us, that will also preserve our culture and environment,” she said.
She said that the technical sessions will focus on seven areas covering, extreme entrepreneur, breaking stereotypes - age is just a number, unleashing corporate entrepreneurship, harnessing power of millennials, digitisation - your next competitive play, no dream is too big and funding  entrepreneurship.
CA Sri Lanka Vice President Jagath Perera stressed that all the citizens in the country should think big and move forward, as the country needs to catch up what it has lost for several years.
He also said that the conference will be an effective and creative for everyone.
Responding to a question with regard to shifting entrepreneurial focus to the agriculture sector, it was noted that it is a subject which should be deliberated extensively to come up with a mechanism and module, as there are many red tapes prevailing in the industry at present.