Need to produce professionals of global stature - Janashakthi MD

The need to create a steady reservoir of professional managers and business leaders in Sri Lanka has been stressed by a Colombo business leader.

“There is a dearth of professional managers and business leaders in Sri Lanka, especially outstanding achievers who could steer Sri Lankan companies into the global arena and compete successfully for business on an international scale,” says Prakash Schaffter, Managing Director of Janashakthi Insurance.

The company said that in this context it has endeavoured to devise a mechanism to recognise and reward leadership and the pursuit of excellence and professionalism in business in Sri Lanka, and the partnership with CIMA is a step in that direction.

Janashakthi Insurance has been the principal sponsor of the CIMA Janashakthi Pinnacle Awards.

“We believed that highlighting such achievements would motivate others to emulate the success of such leaders. We at Janashakthi place great emphasis on professionalism, which with its intrinsic attributes of knowledge, ethics, commitment and dedication is the key factor in the successful conduct of business,” he said.

The CIMA Janashakthi Pinnacle Awards are managed and administered entirely by CIMA, with one representative from Janashakthi on the event’s organising committee.

Speaking on the growth of the CIMA Janashakthi Pinnacle Awards over the past five years, Schaffter was of the opinion that the response of the business community to the Pinnacle Awards had exceeded all expectations and it has now become one of the top events in Sri Lanka’s corporate calendar, growing in stature each year. “It is evident from the quality of the applicants that this event has produced winners who have contributed significantly to their individual organisations, their industry and the development of the country. The awards are taken seriously by the business community and it is now well known that many of the captains of local industry and commerce request their star performers to apply for these Awards,” he added.