SAP together with John Keells IT successfully launched and hosted the inaugural “Dare to Dream Awards 2023 – Sri Lanka Edition”, with a collective vision to recognize, motivate and nurture digital leadership, and to drive digital transformation by creating an impetus to boost Sri Lanka’s economic as well as her global competitiveness. At this prestigious ceremony, organizations and visionary leaders were recognized for being pioneers in innovation, technology adoption as well digital transformation, paving the way for the resurgence of the Sri Lankan economy.
Sri Lanka has endured a tumultuous period of uncertainty which began with the Easter attacks in 2019, followed by the pandemic and then the economic crisis – all of which made Sri Lanka more resilient, stronger, and bolder. This also has pushed organizations to collaborate, innovate and co-create their future together, powered by technology.
Today, Sri Lanka is more connected that ever, and is able to leverage her collective intelligence, and is more digitally inclusive which augurs well for her future. The “Dare to Dream Awards 2023” witnessed and celebrated the best and encouraged the rest of the like-minded individuals and organizations to do more of what they do to create the much-needed momentum the country needs to build a more resilient, inclusive, and vibrant economy.
SAP and John Keells IT, together with EY as their Knowledge Partner, assessed more than 100 nominees and finally presented 17 awards which included 02 individual awards, 04 corporate awards, 08 SAP special recognition awards, and 03 corporate category – special recognition awards.
Individual awards included, Business Leader of the Year and Young Businessperson of the Year. Corporate awards included, Most Innovative Company of the Year, Best Start-up Company of the Year, Sustainability Champion of the Year and Social Impact Champion of the Year.
The SAP special recognition awards included, Finance Transformation Award, Industry 4.0 Award, Customer Success Award, Supply Chain Sustainability Award, Innovative Solution Award, Sustainability Impact Award, Best Emerging Strategic Transformation Journey Award and Best Run Conglomerate Award. In the corporate category – special recognition awards included Company of the Year – SME, Company of the Year – Enterprise and Company of the Year – Conglomerate.
The event drew more than 300 attendees and featured two power-packed panel discussions themed ‘Inclusive Digital Transformation Powering Sri Lanka’s march to a resilient economy’ and ‘Transforming with Tech’.
“The Dare to Dream Awards 2023 – Sri Lanka Edition” was a successful and multi-faceted event, featuring a celebration of visionary leaders, valuable thought leadership, food, and entertainment.
Ramesh Shanmuganathan, Executive Vice President/Group CIO of John Keells as well as Director/CEO of John Keells IT, said that ‘We are elated at being able to bring a credible platform of international repute in “Dare to Dream Awards 2023 – Sri Lanka Edition” to recognize and encourage business leaders and organizations who have stood ahead of the pack in driving the much-needed change and successive points of inflection, to put-forth an inclusive and vibrant economy.’ He further added that John Keells IT and SAP look forward to recognizing more individuals and organizations in the next edition of the awards in 2024 and urged business leaders to stay connected with SAP and John Keells IT.
