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Beyond Traditional Boundaries - Annual Management Conference 2007
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On 1st March 2007 the Colombo MBA Alumni Association held its 03rd Annual Conference on the theme "Beyond Traditional Boundaries" at the Ceylon Continental Hotel, Colombo. This conference was targeted at the Sri Lankan business community and around 150 CEO's and Senior Managers from both public and private sector companies participated for the event.
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At the conference speakers shared the success stories of the organizations they managed and how they succeeded by going beyond the traditional boundaries. Delegates were also afforded the opportunity of a brief person to person dialogue with the speaker at the end of each session.
The following six speakers made their presentations at the conference.
- H.E. Robert Blake, The Ambassador to the United States of America, Keynote Speaker
- Mrs Aban Pestonjee, Chairperson, Abans Group of Companies
- Dr. Ravi Liyanage, Chairman, "Kingdom of Raigam",
- Mr.AnandaRajapaksha, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Orange Electric
- Mr. Thilan Wij esinghe, Group CEO and Managing Director, Forbes & Walker Group
- Mr. Prakash Schaffter, Managing Director, Janashakthi Insurance Co Ltd
Ample publicity was given to the conference by the printed media sponsors of the CMBAAA Wijeya Newspapers Ltd and other media institutions. A compact disc comprising die presentations of the speakers were given to the delegates along with other documents.
The President of the CMBAAA, Mr. Rohan Seneviratne took the leadership in organizing the conference with the assistance of the other EXCO members.
 
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In his opening address, CMBAAA President Mr Rohan Seneviratne welcomed the participants and thanked the presenters for sharing their knowledge so freely. He also gave a very brief account of the mission and activities of CMBAAA.
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Keynote Address, H.E. Robert  O'Blake - The Ambassador of the United States of America
In his illustrious career Ambassador Blake has served in many parts of the world, most recently as Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi from 2003 -2006. He has also held a number of positions at the State Department in Washington.
Commenting on public sector operations, H.E. Mr Blake explained that even the US State Department was run as a "business" with appropriate performance targets, budgets etc.
He observed that diplomacy in the 21 st century has changed with the technology revolution and that various electronic tools were utilized in day to day work - eg the IPOD, WIMAX connectivity etc.
Quoting Sri Lanka's veteran diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala, he reiterated that "Peace is Good Business". He observed that at present there were 500,000 displaced persons due to the ongoing conflict. This works out to 2% of the population who are suffering the discomfiture of being displaced.
He further said that the head start by the Presidential All Party Committee should be maintained in order to find a peaceful political solution to the national crisis.
Commenting on his recent proximity to an LITE attack he said that this had not changed his thinking that a peaceful, negotiated, political solution was die most appropriate solution to the problem. He emphasized that the North and East should be integrated into the mainstream economy and that with die emergence of neighboring India as a major world power, there were spin off benefits for Sri Lanka which could be realized.
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Mrs. Aban Pestonjee - Chairperson, Abans Group of Companies "Business ethics, the key to a successful business"
Mrs Pestonjee has received many awards Both  local and international including the " S A A R C Award  for
Outstanding Achievement and  "Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the World" Award in 2006.
Speaking on her line up of winning brands, she said that the brands offered were initially European and later Japanese (eg Hoover, Electrolux, Mitsubishi) followed by Korean brands, when the yen went up dramatically.
Thereafter the Korean brand Goldstar changed its name to LG and Abans had to make investments in reassuring the public on die reasons for this change.
Seeing enormous potential in Janitorial Services, particularly in die Government sector, Abans later went into this area of business. This was extended to Environmental Services, particularly waste disposal in die City of Colombo.
Mrs Pestonjee noted that die reason for the success of her business was her commitment to making life easier and more fulfilling for the busy housewife. She also emphasized a caring attitude towards staff which was required to motivate the large numbers of personnel engaged in janitorial services and environmental services. She also emphasized the importance of strong business ethics and service orientation in the running of an enterprise.
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Mr   Prakash   Schaffter  -  Managing Director, Janashakthi Insurance Co Ltd "The success story of Janashakthi - a new approach"
Mr  Schaffter is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute, UK and has earned an MBA from the University of Cambridge.
Speaking on the origins of Janashakthi, he described how it grew from small beginnings through the leadership of the founding father, Mr Chandra Schaffter, an individual with great entrepreneurial spirit. He detailed the risks that were taken in pledging assets and borrowing funds to sponsor the expansion of the business.
Tracing the evolution of the company, he described the transition from an owner managed organization to a professionally managed one. The corporate symbol of the lamp was chosen because it appealed to all religions and cultures in the country. They introduced extended working hours to accommodate working customers.
What Janashakthi has brought about is a breath of fresh air, in the somewhat staid insurance industry. Janashakthi is now the 3rd largest in the field of General Insurance and will shortly be taking the company public.
In conclusion, Mr Schaffter emphasized that risk taking and rapid change is essential for success in business.
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"The Orange Story – Outthinking your competitor"
Mr Ananda Rajapakse is the CEO, of Orange Electric since 2004 and was one of the top 10 “Sri Lankans of the Year” nominees of the Ceylon Daily News in 2006.
Orange Electric was previously manufacturing Clipsal branded products in Sri Lanka and doing very well in this arena. However, after Clipsal withdrew the franchise to manufacture and market its products, Orange branched out into manufacturing products under its own brand name. With this approach, they were very successful in converting a threat into an opportunity.
Mr Rajapakse explained the importance of business ethics and quality consciousness in dealing with both local and overseas buyers. We need to be able to change fast he emphasized.
Today's Orange Electric evolved from a one man business selling oranges in 1930. He explained how they negotiated with Orange Pic, an enormous company in the communications industry, and worked out a branding strategy wherein the two companies would focus on very different market segments, although the br and name ' Orange' was the same. In conclusion, Mr.Rajapakse emphasized that we should "be Sri Lankan and buy Sri Lankan". He also explained the importance of being bold enough to tackle the international market. "The Lion should not be only on our national flag - it should also be within each one of us."
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Mr. Thilan Wijesinghe - Group CEO and Managing Director, Forbes & Walker Group.
"Challenging traditional boundaries in economic and business management - the risks and rewards". Mr.Wijesinghe's  illustrious career sSpans both thePublic and Private
Sectors. He served as the Chairman/Director General of the BOI between 1996 and 2000.
In his presentation Mr Wijesinghe explained several initiatives he had taken and concepts he had employed which were "beyond  traditional  boundaries".
In 1993, he was involved in a pioneering effort toward popularising the concept of executive ownership of shares (ESOP), thus increasing commitment toward a common cause of better organizational performance.
In 2002, at Asian Hotels, he reoriented their thinking from being a "hotel company" to being a "property company" and thereby developed the land assets of the company enabling the divestment of the company at a substantial profit.
More recently, at MJP, the "Tea Trails" concept of thematic hotels was created in the tea plantations. Making full use of the natural beauty of the locations and also setting up excellent and tasteful infrastructure at the plantation bungalows, these properties were developed into unique selling propositions which have earned accolades such as "Best Destination to Pop the Question to your Partner" and "Top 5 Colonial Hotels" from prestigious international travel magazines.
At the BOI from 1995, he was able to bring about 778 projects in 5 years. In fact the BOI received several international awards during this period. In the telecom sector, he played a lead role in removing the telecommunications monopoly of SLT by setting up Lanka Bell and Suntel. This paved the way for increasing telecommunication penetration from 5% in 1997 to around 25% today (including mobile phones).
He was also instrumental in the largest single private investment in Sri Lanka in the form of the P&O SAGT project. The implementation of this project led to very large revenue streams to the Port Authority.
Mr Wijesinghe was also proud to have been involved in the forward thinking step of setting up the SLUT which now trains large numbers of IT graduates which are required by Sri Lanka's IT industry.
Sharing his leadership strategy with the participants, Mr Wijesinghe opined that the head of an organization should be able to inspire great confidence in his team. Also the team should not be filled simply with "yes men" but should consist of a small, manageable group of very capable people who are able to challenge the leader's thinking where necessary.
 
 
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Dr. Ravi Liyanage - Chairman / CEO, "Kingdom ofRaigam "
"Raigam – the  strategic  window"
Dr Liyanage was honored as the Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 and won the   the National Platinum Award and Western Province Gold award from the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and  Industry of Sri Lanka in December 2006.
In his thought provoking presentation, Dr Liyanage focused on the concept of "strategic windows" of opportunity which we can all find if we study the environment with a questioning mind.
He explained the growth of his soya foods company from a small company with 8 employees working in his garage to a 1400 person business with total investments of over Rs 1.5 billion. All this from a seed capital of just Rs 2 million put together by the founders. There was no necessity for external capital - growth was financed out of profits (avoiding unnecessary expenditure on luxury infrastructure).
The soya company grew out of the simple idea that the market would purchase tasty, hygienic, well packaged soya products which need not be vegetarian (the vegetarian market is under 5% in any case).
Looking out of a different strategic window, his company invested 450 million in a salt manufacturing facility at Puttalam Salt. Before that, most table salt was imported (despite the fact that Sri Lanka is an island which is surrounded by the necessary raw material for the industry). On yet another market opportunity, Dr Liyanage identified the sanitary napkin industry where 15% of the market used imported products and 85% used traditional methods due to the non availability of reasonably priced products. With the plant that they are investing in, Raigam will be able to cater to yet another market opportunity.
In conclusion, Dr Liyanage said that local industrialists had many opportunities and need not fear multinational giants provided they are able to think beyond traditional boundaries and look at available vistas of opportunity through a "strategic window".