Connect with us

Business

Top SL business leaders panelist at UN Global Compact Summit 2021

Published

on

Sri Lanka co-hosts three sessions

More than 20,000 leaders from business, government, the UN, and civil society will gather for the UN’s largest corporate sustainability event to elevate ambition for strategic collective action to get back on track after the pandemic and rebuild a just, equitable and resilient society.

The United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit on 15-16 June will convene Heads of State, CEOs of major corporations and UN leaders to address the converging global crises of climate change, the Covid-19 global pandemic, worsening social and economic inequality and unchecked corruption in order to offer a roadmap for a sustainable recovery.

Confirmed speakers include the President of Singapore, H.E. Halimah Yacob; Prime Minister of Jamaica, H.E. Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, H.E. Kim Boo-kyum; UN Secretary-General António Guterres; UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed; President of COP26, Alok Sharma; the UK’s High-Level Climate Champion Nigel Topping; Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UNEP; Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Sharan Burrow, Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation and Sanda Ojiambo, CEO & Executive Director of the UN Global Compact.

 

Over 26 hours of continuous virtual programming, speakers and guests from 69 Global Compact Local Networks will discuss responsible business practices through the lens of pressing issues such as the state of sustainability; credible climate action; tackling corruption through collective action; decent work and ensuring living wages; accelerating women’s leadership and bringing innovative sustainable investment instruments to market.

The UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka will be co-hosting three sessions. The first session, Network Sri Lanka has joined forces with Networks Mexico, United Kingdom and Turkey to host the “Responsible Business: Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace” on the 15th June 2021 at 10.45pm to 11.30pm (IST) featuring Ms. Sharmila Sherikar, Senior Vice President – Talent Management Head – Americas Business, Virtusa.

Additionally, the second session, Network Sri Lanka will host the session titled “Sustainable Manufacturing for an Equitable Future” at the Virtual Leaders Summit, on the 16th of June 2021 from 8.15am to 9.00am (IST). Sri Lanka, as one of the fastest growing markets in the world, possesses abundant opportunities and fascinating approaches to cross-cutting the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Manufacturing seeks to replace an unsustainable economic development model with socially and environmentally responsible practices that consume minimal resources. Sustainable Manufacturing involves total life-cycle considerations when developing products which are both economically sound and socially beneficial.

The panelists for the Sri Lanka Network session are Dilhan Fernando – CEO of Dilmah Tea and Chairman of the UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka, Hajar Alafifi – Chairperson and Managing Director, Unilever Sri Lanka, Dr. Rohan Fernando – Managing Director, Aitken Spence Plantations Managements PLC and Executive Director, Aitken Spence PLC, Shakthi Ranatunga – Chief Operations Officer, MAS Holdings; Rajitha Kariyawasam – Managing Director, Haycarb PLC & Eco Solutions and Deputy Chairman, Dipped Products PLC (Hayleys Group)

Furthermore, for the third session, Network Sri Lanka has partnered with Networks Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan to host “Towards Economic Prosperity: Perspectives from South Asia” on the 16th June 2021 at 9.30am to 10.30am featuring Mr. Krishan Balendra, Chairman – John Keells Holdings

Other high-level Summit speakers include comedian and producer Larry Whitmore; Manish Bapta, Interim President and CEO, World Resources Institute; Can Çaka, CEO, Anadolu Efes; Li Zhenguo, Founder & President, LONGi Green Energy Technology Co; Marjorie Yang, Chairman and CEO, Esquel Group; Victoria Yarmoshchuku, CEO and Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation.

Please register online for the sessions via https://shor.by/chTn

 

 



Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Business

Share investors worried over Wealth and Heritage tax

Published

on

By Hiran H Senewiratne

CSE trading kicked off on a positive note yesterday but the momentum could not be sustained for long owing to investor worries that the government is planning domestic debt restructuring involving the imposition of a wealth and heritage tax on citizens, market sources said.

Amid those developments both indices moved downwards. The All -Share Price Index went down by 131 points and S and P SL-20 declined by 46.8 points. Turnover stood at Rs 3.4 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in Agalawattte Plantations, which crossed 45.3 million shares to the tune of Rs 1.5 billion, its shares traded at Rs 35, CTC 420,000 shares crossed for Rs 269 million and its shares traded at Rs 640, Cargills 100,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 24.5 million; its shares traded at Rs 245 and Hayleys 300,000 shares crossed for Rs 24 million; its shares traded at Rs 80.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, SLT Rs 234 million (two million shares traded), Hayleys RS 121 million (1.5 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 106 million (115,000 shares traded), Softlogic Capital Rs 69 million (5.6 million shares traded), CTC Rs 65.3 million (101,000 shares traded), Sampath Bank RS 54.7 million (one million shares traded) and Commercial Bank RS 52.5 million (801,000 shares traded).During the day 164 million share volumes changed hands in 20000 transactions.

Continue Reading

Business

Brandix ‘RightToRead’ initiative gains momentum enriching Sri Lanka students and transforming learning

Published

on

Inspired by the challenge to provide Sri Lankan children with better access to learning materials and the transformative power to read and comprehend English, Brandix launched the ‘RightToRead’ project in 2018 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Accordingly, Brandix introduced the ‘ReadToMe’ English learning tool, created by English Helper – India, to improve reading and comprehension skills of Sri Lankan students. Last Monday, Julie Chung, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, visited Susamayawardhana Vidyalaya in Borella, to observe progress of the project and experience how children and educators in Sri Lanka engage with educational technology.

Brandix Lanka Limited, Director, Ajit Johnpillai, said: “Education is the most powerful tool to enrich communities and futures, and Brandix is committed to build a strong foundation for transformational learning for students across Sri Lanka. The progress we have made with RiteToRead over the past two years is promising, and the potential for change in the education sector harnessing such digital technologies is immeasurable. Brandix will continue its commitment to deliver Inspired Solutions for the people of Sri Lanka.”

Continue Reading

Business

Dialog TV Boosts Resilience and Capacity with Norsat Satellite Earth Station

Published

on

Hytera, a leading global provider of professional communications technologies and solutions, is proud to announce the successful deployment of a new backup satellite station for Dialog TV, Sri Lanka’s No.1 satellite Pay TV service provider. The project was fulfilled in 2022 by Hytera and its subsidiary specialized in Satellite Communications (SatCom), Norsat International Inc. The new station enhances the resilience and capacity of Dialog TV’s existing system and ensures continuity of service in the event of damage due to natural disasters.
Dialog TV provides coverage over the entirety of Sri Lanka through the Intelsat 38 Ku-band satellite. As the business expanded, it opted for a backup solution to support its existing satellite station and to strengthen the network’s disaster tolerance.
Hytera and Norsat provided an end-to-end satellite earth station solution that includes the installation, integration, and setup of satellite antennas, a transmission and receiving system, a new network management system (NMS), and a carrier monitoring system (CMS). The NMS makes routine work easier and simpler for on-duty staff, as equipment status, parameter monitoring and configuration, and remote control of the devices can be viewed and accomplished via a single interface. The CMS monitors the carrier spectrum status of satellite signals in real-time and ensures stable signal transmission and receiving.
“We are excited to have been able to work with Dialog TV on this important project,” said Kevin Sun, Sales Director for Hytera South Asia, “Our ability to seamlessly integrate our new equipment and software with Dialog TV’s existing systems has helped to ensure a stable and reliable service for their millions of customers across Sri Lanka.”

Continue Reading

Trending