WCIC Women Leadership Forum 2024 – Makes Waves
#inspireinclusion – Count Her In
Colombo, Sri Lanka- Celebrating empowerment and leadership, the Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce Sri Lanka (WCIC) successfully hosted its much-anticipated Women Leadership Forum 2024, themed ‘#InspireInclusion – Count Her In,’ at the Grand Ballroom of the Galadari Hotel in Colombo last month. This fully immersive one-day workshop for women in business provided attendees with valuable insights and resources to advance their professional journeys.
“We are thrilled to have brought together such a diverse and dynamic group of women for the Women Leadership Forum 2024,” remarked Tusitha Kumarakulasingam, the Project Chair of the event. ” The Forum expanded on the International Women’s Day theme ‘Inspire Inclusion – Count Her In,’ with sessions designed to provoke thought on creating a safe workplace for optimal performance. It focused on critical areas such as Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH) in the workplace, shedding light on research findings which highlighted the limitations for a GBVH free workplace. Our key objective when we embark on organizing this session is to create a workshop that provokes thinking and action.”
The morning session featured a keynote speech on ‘Inspire Inclusion for Economic Prosperity’ by Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe, Chair and Senior Professor of English, and Founder Director of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Kelaniya. Prof. Wickramasinghe emphasized the importance of economic inclusivity in driving overall prosperity and called for tangible organizational measures to eliminate gender bias and stereotypes.
In a keynote address Prof. Wickremesinghe emphasized the critical role of economic inclusivity in advancing the status of women and driving overall prosperity. She called for concerted efforts to realize the full potential of inclusivity as a driver of innovation, productivity, profitability, and economic sustainability.
Acknowledging the global shift towards promoting private sector-driven inclusive sustainability and growth, she stressed the urgency of addressing inclusivity issues that have been long-standing topics of discussion across various forums, such as the UN, international organizations, NGOs, the ILO, and more.
“Despite decades of discourse, it still seems uncertain or unconvinced as to why women should be encouraged, supported, accounted for, and integrated into the spheres of society, industries, and economy,” she claimed.
In the context of Sri Lanka’s current challenges, Prof. Wickremesinghe underscored the importance of achieving equality in opportunities, resources, and wealth distribution. “Often amidst crisis, social policies should not be postponed — but rather, opportunities should be created, and resources allocated to foster inclusivity and economic prosperity,” she explained.
Barbara Langley, Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), addressed the audience on creating a work environment free from GBVH, highlighting the urgent need for action in this area elaborating on their commitment to support these initiatives, sharing the research findings while Naushalya Rajapakse, Attorney at Law, and Activist provided insights into the current reality of GBVH in Sri Lanka shedding light on the current legal status and highlighting the importance of addressing this issue.
The event also marked the official launch of the WCIC website, supported by the USAID CATALYZE Sri Lanka Private Sector Development (PSD) Activity, further emphasizing WCIC’s commitment to fostering inclusion and leadership among women.
In the afternoon, participants engaged in a Centered Leadership workshop facilitated by Vidhya Ganesan, Partner/Managing Partner at McKinsey, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Suchita Prasad. This interactive session focused on the proprietary ‘Centered Leadership Model,’ empowering leaders to tap into purpose and vision while creating collective relationships and sustaining transformational growth.
The second half of the Forum was dedicated to delivering knowledge with a proprietary tool from McKinsey and Company on Centered Leadership. Vidhya Ganesan and Suchitha Prasad facilitated an energizing, interactive session for the participants.
The ‘Centered Leadership’ workshop prompted engagement and self-reflection, offering valuable advice on how today’s business leaders can become the best version of themselves. Centered Leadership was defined as ‘the mastery of thoughts, feelings, and actions in pursuit of profound change within the organization or community one leads. It means being at your best most of the time, feeling grounded yet able to rise above challenges.
Reflecting on the event, Anoji De Silva, Chairperson of WCIC, expressed gratitude to all participants and partners, stating, “The Women Leadership Forum is a flagship event for the Chamber, aimed at providing women with the knowledge and resources they need to thrive in their personal and professional lives. We are honored to have had Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe deliver the keynote address, and we thank all our partners for their support in making this event a success.”
Addressing the gathering, she highlighted the visionary direction of the chamber and the numerous projects undertaken to enhance the economic participation of women in Sri Lanka. “We collaborate with like-minded organizations to amplify our impact, and the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and McKinsey and Company are two such partners aligned with this event. We invite every businesswoman in this audience to join the formidable organization WCIC,” she stated.
WCIC’s The Women Leadership Forum 2024 received support from Strategic Partners – Eva and USAID, Gold Partners – Commercial Bank, Sunshine Holdings PLC, Oxford School of Business.
