24 March 2023, Colombo: Celebrating the ethos of women empowerment within its workplace culture, Sampath Bank held a ‘Wonder Women Initiative’ for the second consecutive year, to mark International Women’s Day, which falls on 8th March every year. The notable event brought together bright and successful professionals who have ascended to the pinnacle of their respective professions, to discuss a range of issues related to how women can excel in the workplace despite shouldering many responsibilities. Through this Wonder Women Initiative, Sampath Bank is championing this year’s International Women’s Day theme, #EmbraceEquity, by inspiring a gender equal world that values diversity and rejects gender bias.
Commenting on the successful event, Mr. Nanda Fernando MD of Sampath Bank said, “We are delighted with the success of this year’s ‘Wonder Women Initiative’ as a way to celebrate International Women’s Day. The prominent personalities featured in the event were women who exemplify balance and achievement in every way. The powerhouse panelists shared valuable insights and wisdom with an audience of 200 at the fireside chat as well as with the many men and women who joined us through live-streaming platforms.”
Adding further, he said, “We are honoured to shine the spotlight on women and their many contributions in all spheres of life – be it in the corporate sector, academia, professions such as the medical and legal professions, or in entrepreneurship. We hope their dynamic stories inspire the younger generation to blaze their own career paths. The Wonder Women Initiative serves as an extension of our policy of equity and inclusion of women at Sampath Bank, to ensure women have equal representation across our operations and to inspire other institutions to follow suit.”
Addressing the audience at the event, Senior Deputy General Manager – Digitalisation, Deposit Mobilisation and Marketing Tharaka Ranwala stated, “For far too long the role of women have been defined by men with many men and also some women still thinking that the role of women is to be a housewife. However, we at Sampath Bank believe in empowering women and standing side by side with them and helping them in their journey every single day. We thought of bringing it to a pinnacle by starting the Wonder Women Initiative last year and continuing it this year as well, where we showcase and share the inspirational stories of these amazing women and take it to society to make a change.”
Presented as a fireside chat, the Wonder Women panel this year featured eminent professionals, including Neelika Malavige – Professor at University of Sri Jayewardenapura and Head of the Global Dengue Program – Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative; Nadija Tambiah – Head of Legal, Secretarial & CSR at John Keells Holdings PLC; Farzana Jameel – President’s Counsel (Retired Senior Additional Solicitor General); Charini Suriyage – Founder & Director of Charini; and Manoja Jayawardhane – Director/CEO of Automated Barcode Solutions Pvt Ltd. The moderator for the animated discussion was Chandi Dharmaratne – Chairperson of the Lankan Angel Network and Vice-President-HR at Virtusa. The event was also live-streamed on Sampath Bank’s social media platforms directly from Cinnamon Lakeside, where the fireside chat was held.
The Wonder Women Initiative was conceptualized as a platform that would inspire women and men to take inspiration from a panel of successful female professionals who have been trail-blazers in their respective fields as they share the secrets of their success. As a progressive employer, Sampath Bank understands that women’s equality in its workplace is the key to Embrace Equality.
The diverse and inspirational life and career journeys of the amazing ladies certainly helped to inspire the females in the audience, as they clearly showed that there is no one way for someone to fulfill her life’s dream and reach the highest level in her career.
The potential of women to succeed as entrepreneurs and their success stories of triumphing over restrictions in the society that they grew up came to light during the discussion. Steps such as providing special technical training to educate them in the field that they are passionate about and part-time employment to help them use their acquired skills and training to get their businesses off the ground were key points discussed during the conversation. Further, overcoming these hurdles and enabling thousands of females to join the workforce and contributing to the national economy while also elevating the quality of life in their families and uplifting their communities were several other areas explored during the panel discussion.