Take us through the event!

Carmen Niethammer, Program Manager of Sri Lanka’s Women in Work Program, gave the keynote speech on the importance of D&I. She talked about the lack of talented women in the workplace, and offered excellent tips on how to attract and retain a diverse workforce. Fortude’s CEO Arjuna Sirinanda spoke about his passion in recruiting and retaining a talented, diverse team. His life experiences have inspired him to think big beyond borders, and this plays into his inclusive management philosophy. Chinthi Weerasinghe, President of Diversity Collective, talked about why women leave the workplace and provided insightful ways of bridging gender division. As she spearheads Diversity Collective, she is fully committed to driving necessary change across the board. Following these thoughtful talks was a panel discussion moderated by Kavitha Gunasekara, Group Manager – Learning & Development at WNS Global Services. The panel fielded great questions about some of the biggest challenges in D&I initiatives, and obstacles that women encounter, such as the need to be “perfect” or “wonder women” in order for D&I to be “successful”. In addition, the panel asserted that it was critical that male professionals and other well-represented demographics do their part to support D&I initiatives, since this benefits everyone.