WIM Top50 Fourth Annual Conference Empowered Women for Resilient Future

WIM Top50 Fourth Annual Conference Empowered Women for Resilient Future The fourth WIM Top50 Annual Conference will take place on the 9th of November 2021 at the Kingsbury Hotel Colombo, with a diverse cohort of speakers coming together to share their post COVID19 leadership and new thinking under the theme “Empowered Women for Resilient Future.”

It has been nearly two years into an unprecedented health and economic crisis that had destroyed lives and livelihoods globally and in Sri Lanka. This has been a problematic period particularly for Sri Lanka and her women.

Dr. Sulochana Segera, Chairperson of Women in Management, stated that, “even though the topic has been indicated as pertaining solely to women, the intention of the conference is to focus on global leadership changes, the state of the economy and diversity. For the first time in the WIM Top50 Conference history we have also included a panel to speak about the future of local entrepreneurship post COVID19. The selected speakers are not from the corporate world, nor are they renowned Entrepreneurs. They hail from the grassroot levels and they are the ones who really contribute to the country’s GDP.”

WIM Top50 Conference will be launched by this year’s Conference Chair, Aparna Tillakaratne, WIM Executive Committee Member and Chief Law Officer at Sri Lanka Ports Authority. Aparna added, “it is an honor and a privilege to be appointed as Conference Chair 2021 and WIM has always been a pillar of strength in my journey as a career woman and a responsible citizen who has a duty towards society. Eminent panelists including top business leaders, emerging entrepreneurs, professionals and media personalities, are all included in this year’s line-up, and it’s not just women but men as well; men who constantly support WIM’s vision. One of the novel concepts at this year's conference  is including and exposing young blood who we believe will emerge as the ones who will provide leadership in the future. We firmly believe these new sessions will motivate the millennial and Gen Z kids.”

The key note speaker of the event will be Dr. Mohan Kaul, a champion of international trade, investment and emerging markets. Dr Mohan Kaul is an influential, well-connected and recognized policy adviser, business leader, social entrepreneur, development specialist and academic. Her speech will be followed by the first panel discussion of the conference: “Business and Financial Strategies.” Every business has felt the financial pressures that Covid19 has caused. This forum will focus on future consumer trends, financial technologies, and share tips pertaining to the road to recovery. Moderated by Nisthar Cassim, Founder Editor and CEO Daily FT, will feature Dilith Jayaweera, Chairman, George Steuart & Company Ltd, Shashi Kandamb-Jassim, Senior Deputy General Manager, Sampath Bank PLC, Victor Antony Pillai, Country Officer Sri Lanka and Maldives, International Finance Corporation, and Nilushi Jayatileke, Marketing Director for Personal Care, Unilever Sri Lanka.

The second panel discussion will be on - “Diversity and Inclusion” and will be moderated by Santosh Menon, CEO, KL.LK. Santhosh stated that he is, “delighted to chair such a high caliber panel, I am sure discussion on such relevant topics will yield very insightful and meaningful points. I hope to inspire positive actions from this forum.” Panel speakers will be Sarah Twigg, Program Manager, Women in Work, International Finance Corporation, Hiran Cooray, Chairman, Jetwing Sri Lanka, Tania Polonnowita Wettimunny, Entrepreneur and Group Managing Director, IAS Holdings (PVT) Limited, Ananya Sabharwal, Director HR, Unilever Sri Lanka, and Bani Chandrasena, Independent Consultant, Diversity Collective on Inclusion, SLASSCOM.

Dr. Sulochana Segera, Founder and Chairperson of Women in Management will speak on the topic - “When You Hit Rock Bottom” and her speech will be followed by the third panel discussion - “The Social Shakeup.” This panel will be moderator by Waruni Algama, Senior General Manager, User Experience Design and Channel Adoption, Dialog Axiata PLC. Waruni stated that the discussion will be focused on “how to use social media effectively to brand ourselves, how to utilize it to build our corporate brands and how to take our brands forward.” The speakers on this panel are all media professionals and includes Indeewari Amuwatte, General Manager, TV Derana, Rasika Jayakody, Author and Media Personality, Rishini Weeraratne, Head of Social Media, Wijeya Newspapers Limited and the Editor of The Weekend Online (Daily Mirror), HI!! Online and WNow Sinhala and WNow English, Milinda Rajapaksa, Additional Director General, Department of Government Information and the Director, Media Centre for National Development.

The fourth panel will be conducted in Sinhala and the topic will be - “Women who run the economy.” This session will be moderated by Mayanthi Fernando, WIM Executive Committee Member and Secretary / General Manager, World Link Group. The panel speakers will be Chathurika Wickremasinghe, Managing Director, Adventa Holdings PVT Limited, Dr. Iresha Udayangani Silva, (B.A.M.S), Proprietor, Seth Ulpatha Ayurveda Weda Medura, Dadallage Sriyani, Proprietor, Devithuru Caterers and Sureka Edirisinghe, Women Development Officer, Ampara District Secretariat.

The conference will conclude with the final panel discussion on the topic - “New Generation Leadership.” This session will be moderated by Onella Karunanayake, Panel Chair, Executive Director, OSM Holdings (PVT) Ltd. Forum speakers will include Sajindu Perera, Head of Management Information and Finance Integration, MAS Intimates (PVT) Ltd, Mohammed Fawaz, Founder, Curve Up and Consultant, Resilience Gender Inclusive Enterprise Systems (Oxfam) and ENTERPRISE (Chrysalis), Sachitha Kalingamudali, Senior Manager -Digital Media, Derana Macro Entertainment, Anna-Marie Ondaatje, a Quint Ondaatje Foundation Goodwill Ambassador, 3 AQO Sports and Entertainment (AQOSE), Savini Tennakoon, Deputy Principal – Academic, Asian Grammar School, Colombo.

The Conference will be a physical event and it will also be live streamed on Digital and Social Media platforms. For registrations please e-mail: [email protected] or visit our website: www.womeninmanagementwards.org