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Showing posts from June, 2018

Preventive justice

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BE it the tampering of a cricket ball, clubbing a leopard to death or the daylight robbery of a jewelry shop – they must all be unconditionally condemned and the culprits punished. But equally important is to do some deep psyche research as to what drove them to do this. While those who committed the crime need to held responsible, how much of this is influenced by society? How do we shape society in manner that we minimise the drive for people to commit such crimes?

Bakamuna’s pop-up store to be launched this week

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Incubated by MTI’s idea2fund Bakamuna’s first ever pop-up will be hosted by the Hilton Colombo from 23 June till 1 July. Bakamuna is a mixed media lifestyle design brand powered by MTI’s idea2fund which is a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs. The concept of the pop-up being a flexible and mobile shopping experience; inspired Bakamuna to repurpose a functional bullock cart. The Sri Lankan traditional mode of transportation has been given a modern vibe with the use of contemporary design elements to showcase a range of lifestyle products. Cultural vintage items such as the ekel broom and rice kulla have been used as props for the store, further reinstating Bakamuna’s signature design style; traditional elements with a contemporary twist. Bakamuna draws inspiration from indigenous cultures, nature, music and many other elements and environments. The pop-up will carry a range of mixed media lifestyle products such as homeware, stationary and accessories. Mixed Media is Bakamuna’s spe...

12 strategic questions for a bank CEO to reflect on

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1. When was the last time you introduced a truly life-changing product? 2. Small businesses are the life blood of our economy – is it in your blood? 3. Is there wealth at the bottom of your pyramid? Thought of being the ‘wholesale’ banker to tap this wealth? 4. How many ‘scientists’ work in your R&D lab? 5. The power of the intelligence you hold – what are you doing about it?  6. What national economic challenges are you trying to address? 7. Are your conventional fixed-cost channels hungry enough for new business? 8. Sri Lanka’s ‘economic geography’ is changing – is yours? 9. How much ‘Jelly Fish’ is your structure? 10. Does your staff represent the ‘Generation Next’?  11. What National Social KPIs will your CSR positively change?  12. How genuinely ‘Green’ is your banking practice? (Beyond awards and accreditations!)

Chemanex applies MTI’s bold approach to re-structuring a legacy business

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Chemanex PLC, a leading player in the chemical industry for more than four decades, successfully concluded a major business restructuring exercise with MTI Consulting, thereby rationalizing many of its business units/operations in order to focus on its core business. The rationalization, based on a detailed consulting assignment carried out by MTI in 2015, and re-visited in 2017/18 as part of the ‘CIC Re-Strategizing 2020’ project (for which MTI was retained by CIC Group), resulted in rationalization of all operations of Chemanex, with the exception its Local Chemical Trading business. The Business Units which were rationalized included the export business, the retail paints business and support services. The relevant subsidiaries handling these operations were also rationalized, or have been identified and are pending rationalization. The intensive restructuring exercise, for which MTI was retained in 2015 and 2017/18, involved in-depth research into the operations and performance...

Bakamuna to launch Pop-up Store incubated by MTI’s idea2fund

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Bakamuna’s first ever Pop-up Store will be hosted by the Hilton Colombo from 23 June till 1 July. The lifestyle store is an exciting launch for Bakamuna, a mixed media lifestyle brand powered by MTI’s idea2fund for aspiring entrepreneurs. Having launched early last year, Bakamuna has been steadily making a name for themselves in the design and lifestyle space. Looking to further their retail reach through a spin-off chain of Bakamuna Pop-up Stores, the young and creative company approached the Hilton Colombo. Hilton Colombo General Manager Manesh Fernando said: “It is our pleasure to partner with Bakamuna on this initiative and to be able to play our part in supporting and enabling the startup ecosystem in Sri Lanka through our professional service and business facilities. We see a lot of potential in this unique and daring brand and we look forward to support their future ventures.” Hilton Colombo has continued to support idea2fund since 2016. ‘idea2fund’ is a year round venture c...

Dialog Awards enabled by MTI’s independent judging for 7th year

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  0     16 Dialog completed its seventh consecutive annual employee recognition awards with MTI Consulting as the independent facilitator and playing the lead role in the judging panel. Since the very first Dialog Awards held in 2011, Dialog has worked alongside MTI Consulting to identify, motivate and recognise Dialog’s employees who have been untiringly working to explore innovative technology solutions for Sri Lankan people and enterprises. “Once again, Dialog and MTI have together successfully completed Dialog Awards 2017 which recognised the exceptional leaders and teams based on their performance during the past one year,” stated Dialog Axiata PLC Group CEO Supun Weerasinghe. He further stated: “Year on year, MTI Consulting has been retained to evaluate the submissions, whilst reinventing the awarding criteria and serving as an independent judging partner.” “Dialog Awards, a significant initiative by MTI HRM Solutions which is a subsidiary of MTI Con...

MTI accepts Cryptocurrency for project with New Zealand Blockchain Startup

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New Zealand based blockchain startup ‘Redeem’ ( www.redeem.global ) recently obtained advisory from MTI Consulting to refine their investment pitch. Acknowledging the evolving cryptocurrency market, MTI will also accept part of its consultancy fee in the form of Redeem’s cryptocurrency, making MTI among the pioneers in international consulting to do so. Redeem (RDM) is a (physically located) gold standard retail banking system and a blockchain that uses pre-existing international metal vendors as agents to convert digital assets into physical assets such as precious metals, fiat currencies and 24 karat jewelries. Their cryptocurrency RDM, is backed by 10 precious metals such as Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium to name a few, providing a stable coin to protect investors from currency volatility which is a weakness in most of the existing currencies such as Bitcoin. Redeem’s CEO Mr. Jarrod Cordier said, “Redeem is here to revolutionize the global commodity trading market ...

Carbon Consulting wins Green World Award for Eswaran Brothers

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The Carbon Consulting Company (with MTI as a Strategic Equity Partner) and its long term client, one of the world’s most awarded sustainable tea companies  - Eswaran Brothers  Exports celebrated another outstanding joint achievement when Eswaran Brothers Exports was awarded GLOBAL GOLD WINNER: in the Food and Drink category  of the Green World Awards. These awards have become one of the world’s most prestigious recognitions for companies, organizations, and governments championing for a greener future. This new accolade comes to the company as a result of the extensive work carried out by CCC in creating a strategic sustainability road map for the entire Eswaran group of  companies,  and establishing concrete milestones along the journey.  Already certified as the World’s First CarbonNeutral® Tea company, Eswaran Brothers has continued to push the boundaries in the areas of product and organizational Water footprinting, Supply Chain Water and...