“The Crux of the problem (for Jaffna entrepreneurs), is that banks are not interested in development, but only there to mobilise deposits. The saving potential of the North, if you compare with the other regions, is the highest. Plus the highest saving rates are seen in Jaffna. I conducted a survey about banks, and found out that there is no proper lending,” Saravanapavan said.

Another major aspect was the over-stringent requirements for securities.
“All they want is security. Banks should discourage this practice. Managers don’t disburse capital, are reluctant to give loans, and their approach to the problem discourages the investor. They should have a different policy. However, lending is gradually going up and with the issuance of credit cards by banks in Jaffna in the near future it will help to certain extent,” he added.
Many entrepreneurs were of the view that lack of infrastructure was another major hurdle. Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Dr. Anura Ekanayake said that the chambers and investors were in Jaffna to listen to the views of the Jaffna people.

“Although the potential is enormous, the information available for investors outside the North is at least thirty years old. The starting point for doing successful business in Jaffna is the prevalence of peace. We can have no meaningful discussions on development if there’s no peace and stability. Lack of war is not having peace. There’s a lot to be done. The need for peace is stronger than ever before,” said Ekanayake.
“The war time restrictions will soon become a thing of the past. People and goods can now move freely within Sri Lanka and link with rest of the world. However, we need to have goodwill, understanding, and good communication”

However, Dr. Ekanayake said that infrastructure was in some ways a misguided concept.
“Many understand infrastructure to be the one and only thing for development and building livelihoods. Although there’s no denying, they are extremely expensive and time-consuming to build. However, other aspects although may be less capital intensive and will take a great deal of commitment,” he added.

He said that there were several challenges faced by the Jaffna businessman.
“We need to face the challenge of making the business community comfortable in the face of competition from outside. With thirty years’ restrictions now removed and once free movement is established, a high degree of sensitivity is needed in managing, for a win-win situation,” he said.
Some expressed concerns stating that although seven months have gone not a single construction has come up in Jaffna.

“There’s absolutely no development and no growth in the foreseeable future. There are over 300,000 unemployed youth out of which nearly 5,000 are graduates. IDP’s have been resettled in Jaffna with a mere Rs. 5,000 in their hands. At the end although this would not affect us now, we will face consequences in ten years time. There is a sense of urgency looking beyond politics,” said one participant.

George Perera of the Export Development Board (EDB) said that a preliminary survey conducted in the North, identified tremendous resource potential for exports in the peninsular.
However, if development was to be sustainable and continuous , there were three essential prerequisites; the continuous and unhindered access through A9, eradication of fear psychosis in the community, whether it is unfounded or not, and respect the community values.

“These are imperative preconditions. There’s a lot of scope for industries in palmyrah, food processing, gingerly, fisheries , leather products, ice production, nylon net manufacture, handy crafts, IT, tobacco,” Perera said.
He added that Jaffna should have a three-pronged marketing strategy to spur export growth.

“We need to bridge and link main exports and producers immediately, identify products and brand them (eg Yalpanam handicrafts) as Jaffna has a readymade market to promote this product through the diaspora. Opening sales offices in Germany, the United Kingdom and France where there is a large Jaffna community, export windows at embassies should also be considered,”

One of Sri Lanka Apparel’s biggest supporters in their efforts to take ‘Garments Without Guilt’ to the world, has been the Export Development Board. Chairman, EDB Anil Koswatta and his team have been invaluable in ensuring the stability for the industry, and have also helped with image building, marketing and improving productivity through both financial means and proper policy direction” said Chairman of Sri Lanka Apparel A. Sukumaran.

A new milestone in their campaign came last month as Sri Lanka Apparel presented ‘Garments Without Guilt’ at the 13th WWD Apparel/Retail CEO Summit in New York on November 9 and 10.
Hosted by Women’s Wear Daily, long touted as the last word in everything fashion, the topics at the summit ranged from the urgent need to change the fashion system and building a hot brand to the outlook for holiday sales and the evolving U.S. trade policy.

In attendance were over 200 CEO’s and presidents from such leading companies as Aeropostale, Bloomingdales, Chanel, Christian Dior, Lululemon Athletica, Giorgio Armani, Jones Apparel Group, Macy’s, Marc Jacobs, Phillips-Van Heusen, Saks Inc, Under Armour, and VF Corporation to name just a few. The speakers included Stella McCartney, Kevin Plank and Ronald Frasch of Saks Inc., Emmanuel Chirico of Phillips-Van Heusen, Donna Karan, Martha Stewart, Marc Jacobs, Sir Martin Sorrell and many others.
The summit brought together the leading minds of the fashion world and encouraged discussions, lectures and debates on the current economic situation and its impact on retail, brand building strategy and also the need for environmental and ethical practices in apparel manufacturing.

This was of course, the ideal forum to present ‘Garments Without Guilt’ and the EDB was quick to see the merit in having Sri Lanka Apparel make their presence felt there.
“We are extremely grateful to the Export Development Board for their support and for pro-actively sponsoring our participation at this exclusive forum opening a new vista of export promotion by creating national identity in place of individual companies resulting in benefit to the entire industry”, said Secretary General, JAAF Rohan Masakorale.

While Sri Lanka Apparel’s participation in what Kumar Mirchandani, who champions the marketing initiatives at JAAF, calls “the most important gathering that the industry has ever participated in”, is a landmark achievement in itself, the growing global concern and need for ethical manufacturing that was evident, made it even more fortuitous. As the world over consumers turn conscientious, brands can no longer ignore the where and how of their manufacturing process.

Against this backdrop, Sri Lanka Apparel was recognised as leaders in ethical manufacturing and offered a warm welcome into the forum. As brands are forced to take a more responsible stand, the opportunities it opens for Sri Lanka Apparel are endless. With the global fashion industry awakening to ethical practices, all eyes are now on the island nation that heralded the change.

The SRS ’09, as in the past, placed emphasis on potential and inventive research frontiers by encouraging the submission of innovative and high quality manuscripts, selectively chosen with regard to their relevance to issues which need to be addressed in Sri Lanka. Of particular significance were publications targeting progress within the agricultural and medical sectors in rural areas. Together with the documentation of the proceedings of the SRS, the research papers were published with the aim of broadening the horizon of the ICT discipline in the country.

SLIIT, the foremost and largest degree awarding Institute in the field of Information Technology in Sri Lanka takes great pride in producing highly qualified IT professionals in the country who are geared to face the challenges of the IT industry both locally and globally. The institution further takes on a number of initiatives in fostering and promoting research within the domain of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Sri Lanka.

The formal launch ceremony was held on December 20 at the British Council Auditorium, graced by the Chief Guest, Peter Ashton, Director – Examinations of British Council. The Guest of Honour at the ceremony was Prof. Dr. Mohamed Sulaiman, Marketing Scientist and Dean of FBA, University of Science and Technology in Chittagong. A special address was made by Prof. Salamat Ullah Bhuiyan, Chairman, Department of Marketing who is also a member of CIM. Shiraz Latiff, Past Chairman of CIM Sri Lanka Region and Ms. Chitrangani Herat Gunaratne, Senior Vice Chairperson of CIM Sri Lanka Region were also present at the ceremony. The event was attended by over 40 corporate heads and representatives from universities.

The Student Open Day was also held on December 20 and was organised with the objective of introducing the CIM qualification to prospective students and was attended by over 30 participants. A presentation on “Marketing” as a career option and on the CIM qualification was made by Ms. Chitrangani Herat Gunaratne followed by one-to-one discussions with the participants.

As the world’s largest professional body for marketing, The Institute sees a great potential for the CIM qualification in Bangladesh. During the tour, CIM Sri Lanka representatives also visited several universities and professional institutes in Dhaka and Chittagong and discussions were held with regard to expanding the delivery centres of the CIM qualification and future plans.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing Is the world’s largest and most prestigious professional body for marketing and CIM Sri Lanka Region is the largest overseas Region of The Institute. Since Regional status was granted in 2005, CIM Sri Lanka Region over sees CIM operations in the South Asian region.

“Being one BDO is a challenge we share with all member firms worldwide, a challenge solidly relying on the unique BDO experience, values and relationships. We remain focused on helping our clients navigate the ever-changing economic and market conditions by providing high quality advice and services to all our clients on a consistent basis. This will help to ensure that we are recognised in the market as a unified global network”.
CEO of BDO Jeremy Newman said, “This is a very exciting change for BDO and is the culmination of many years of strategic and operational investment and engagement. It demonstrates our member firms’ commitment to provide a seamless, integrated service delivering the highest quality advice to all our clients across the world. It confirms our position as a competitor to not only the largest, but all other businesses operating in our marketplace”.

The change also sees BDO entering into arrangements to enable all BDO Member Firms to utilise common IT software which will facilitate the deployment of new network-wide tools and applications. This will benefit clients as it will enable easier document and knowledge sharing.

“What matters to our clients, matters to us. Our clients expect the best possible professional advice and the highest quality service and the transition to a single global trading name underlines our commitment to deliver this to our clients nationally and internationally,” added Jeremy Newman.
BDO will introduce a new audit methodology and a new audit process tool to facilitate the consistent delivery of high quality, effective and efficient audits, fully compliant with the International and Local Standards on Auditing.