MTI Consulting

There have been calls to ban Sri Lankan maids from going abroad. Emotionally, this is understandable, but logically and realistically consider the following as well: • We have 1.7 million Sri Lankans working abroad, remitting over $ 6.5 B and there about five million people (25% of our population) who depend on this. Also, it is this inflow that is helping to pay for the imports (the cars we drive in Colombo) and to ‘hold’ our currency at least where it is today. • The $ 6.5 B that these expat Sri Lankans remit is about four times what we earn from tea, 50% higher than what we earn from apparel (with relatively low value addition) • Most of the lower-end blue collar domestic helpers go for such jobs out of economic desperation. If not why would someone leave your family behind for two years and go abroad for job that pays you as little as $ 250 a month? We can all talk of morals and principals but I guess we have no clue of what it is to be in such a desperate state? • Yet, th...

The management of People’s Bank recently presented its five-year strategic plan for future growth to over 1,000 head office and branch network professionals, from different levels of the organisation. The plan ‘SP 16/20’ was formulated by MTI Consultants, in close collaboration with the staff of People’s Bank. The plan is based on MTI’s internationally acclaimed 8S Model and outlines key strategic initiatives that will help People’s Bank achieve its 2020 profitability targets and secure its position as the undisputed market leader in the financial services sector. Over the next five years, People’s Bank will continue to remain dedicated to empowering the people of Sri Lanka and as part of its mission the bank will continue to serve and meet the needs of its stakeholders including customers, owners, employees and society at large. At the presentation ceremony, MTI Consultants CEO Hilmy Cader officially handed over the first copy of ‘SP 16/20’ to People’s Bank Chairman Hemasiri Fern...

MTI Consulting, based on their experience and thought leadership work in international trade strategizing,  have highlighted important export policy and governance issues that Sri Lanka should address. What is the bottom-line on exports? Sri Lanka’s measurement of exports is entirely based on revenue (essentially top-line) and does not measure the degree of value addition that would help determine export profitability to the country, as this is what Sri Lanka will eventually benefit from.  For instance, in the case of tea bags, the bagging machine, energy, paper, printing machines, printing inks and additional freight are mostly imported. With apparel too, there is a high import-input component.  Therefore, the focus needs to be on the net value-addition and not just the top-line.  Having a consistent national formula for sector-wise value-addition would help Sri Lanka to make more effective policy decisions. The export sectors must be told how much ‘value-addit...

Delivering the key note speech at the CIM Future Marketer’s Conference , MTI Consulting CEO, Hilmy Cader inaugurated the session with two hard-hitting questions of whether there are sufficient marketers as CEOs and is marketing the most respected function. After the ‘target audience’ agreed that neither one of the questions can be answered satisfactorily, he continued to discourse the importance of ‘value creation’ by the marketers, since the profession is misunderstood and the scope is not appreciated.  His presentation was themed “Forget Marketing – Focus on Cross-Functional Value Creation, Drawing from his consulting experience, he emphasized on how marketing in many scenarios had failed to produce or effectively convey the business value creation made by marketing and that marketing was largely high on ‘silo impact.’ This established the game plan for the session which was to drive the thinking, in order to achieve career progression and respect for the future marketers. He ...

MTI Consulting’s CEO Hilmy Cader will be delivering the keynote at the 4th CIM Future Marketer’s Conference organized by the CIM SL region students committee, which is scheduled to be held on 26 th  September at the Kingsbury Hotel. This year’s conference is themed on “The new age marketer” and cover presentations of topics such as the power of consumer insights and engagement, adding value to an organization and the 2020 digital marketing mix followed by a panel discussion comprising of CIM study center specialists. “The role of Marketing and therefore Marketers in the new-age domains (like tech, telecom, travel, e-commerce, financial services, entertainment) is markedly different to the role marketers played in conventional FMCG domains.  Marketers are now challenged to find their role in these emerging domains” said Hilmy Cader. Hilmy Cader - MTI CEO

Toyota Lanka, having successfully launched MTI’s Competency Model in Sri Lanka, plans to globally roll-out this model to its international network.  Speaking at the Sri Lanka Implementation Launch of the Toyota Framework based on MTI Competency Model, Mr. Shungo Yoshioka - Managing Director, Toyota Lanka had the following to say, “Today our HR framework has been accepted by many countries in the Toyota Tsusho Group and I’m glad to see when they speak of HR, they speak of Toyota Lanka”. “Toyota Lanka has always been a pioneer in HR practices and thought leadership within the Toyota international network. This is yet another example of Toyota’s pioneering HR initiatives, which was developed and fine-tuned over the last 18 months, with the active involvement of the entire senior management, covering all functions” said   Mr. Manohara Atukorala - COO/EO, Toyota Lanka. MTI took a hands-on approach in this project from the business environmental scan to listening to the ...

The People’s Bank, after a 6 month strategizing process in consultation with Bahrain-based MTI Consulting, have submitted the final draft of the 2020 strategic plan, for board approval. It was presented to the People’s Bank Chairman Mr. Hemasiri Fernando and the bank’s Board of Directors by MTI’s elite panel of financial services specialists comprising Saliya Rajakaruna, Manilka Fernando and Kumar Jayathilake, along with MTI’s Bahrain-based CEO Hilmy Cader. People’s Bank GM /CEO Mr. Vasantha Kumar and DGM Strategic Planning Ms. Chandani Werapitiya were at the presentation.

Sri Lanka’s apex Trade Promotions Organization, the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (SLEDB), has just completed a 9 month long strategizing process with MTI, culminating with the final draft of the strategic plan for the EDB. Financial support to develop the EDB strategic plan was made possible through the USAID program, Facilitating Economic Growth in Sri Lanka, which was implemented by the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) through the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA). The SLEDB is the country’s foremost state organization mandated for the promotion and development of exports. Performing the roles of Policy Advisor, Monitor, Promoter, Facilitator, and Knowledge Provider, the EDB‘s key role is to achieve the national export goals, and to increase the country’s export value of products and services. Mr. Bandula Egodage, Chairman and Chief Executive of the EDB stated, ‘I have no doubt that the development of this Strategic Plan, based on MTI’s internati...

Associated Motorways (Private) Limited, Sri Lanka’s leading automobile conglomerate, has successfully concluded a consulting assignment with MTI, aimed at developing high-growth enabling management competencies based on AMW’s 3 to 5 year strategic direction. Acquired by the Dubai-based Al-Futtaim group in mid-2008, AMW offers its customers the entire spectrum of transport solutions from motorcycles to large commercial trucks. AMW is the sole distributor for brands such as Nissan, Suzuki, Yamaha, Piaggio, Goodyear, BP and Castrol, Case New Holland, Dong Feng and Sonax with strong market shares within their respective segments. “With the AMW Group experiencing high growth and plans to double the business in the next 4 years, we identified the need to enable our senior management with strategy formulation and implementation competencies. The project with MTI has helped AMW to benchmark the functional best practices across the full suite of business management competencies” said S...

Regional Development Bank (RDB) - the largest development bank in the country, has selected international boutique consultancy – MTI, to research and develop its five year Corporate Plan (2016 – 2020) with the view of further strengthening the rural economy of Sri Lanka. RDB is established with the primary objective of improving living standards of the rural masses and is currently serving over 5 million customers through an island-wide network of 266 branches and 19 district offices administrated via 7 provincial offices. Mr. T. A. Ariyapala, the General Manager / CEO of RDB stated “The Corporate Plan, developed based on MTI’s internationally acclaimed 8S® Model will strategize and direct RDB to reach new heights. The key focus would be on creating a customer centric and performance oriented culture while tapping into new opportunities in the rural economy. The process with MTI will include defining the scope for RDB, an intensive scan of the internal and external environment, se...

Analytical Instruments (AIPL), Sri Lanka’s market leader for latest technologies & products in the laboratory industry,  recently concluded their strategic planning exercise with MTI. The project which was initiated in July last year consisted of a series of clinical workshops and consulting sessions which has ultimately led to the mapping of the long term strategic direction of AIPL. The strategic plan was enabled by applying MTI’s 8S® Strategizing Model, which took the systematic approach of initially identifying the scope, scan and sights of AIPL. Using the boundaries drawn in the scope, the strengths and weaknesses in the internal and external scan and the vision in the sights, MTI with the engagement of the senior management & directors of AIPL was able to align AIPL’S strategy, structure, staff, social responsibility and systems accordingly. With a strong emphasis placed on bias-for-action, each strategic initiative identified in the strat-plan, no matter how gra...

MTI’s India Country Representative and member of the MTI Sri Lankan Board, Mr. Subash Bidare is to visit Sri Lanka on the 23 rd  of June, 2015 for a week long roadshow with top corporates to explore the market entry solutions to India.  The purpose behind his visit is to help Sri Lankan corporates take that leap across the Indian Ocean. And he intends to do so by demonstrating that the leap required is less daunting when broken down into basic steps. First understanding the potential of the Indian market for the Sri Lankan corporates / their products & services is important. Followed by envisaging and developing a clinical market entry strategy and implementing these strategies is the essence of making a successful entry to India. “India is a large market not just of consumers, but also a market of vendors, suppliers, support services and talent. Therefore there is no shortage of opportunities. However India can be seen as difficult with its myriad laws and regulation...

Link Natural Products, one of Sri Lanka’s iconic R&D based herbal health care brands, has retained the services of MTI Consulting’s international network of Associates to aid in its process of internationalization. “Our fast growing product range includes Generic Ayurvedaic  pharmaceuticals, herbal healthcare and personal care products . With a range of over 200 products in the local market, Link Natural wants to further   expand its overseas markets with its signature brands like Samahan, Sudantha and Earth Essence” said Dr. Devapriya Nugawela, Chairman of Link Natural Products. “MTI’s international experience and network will be used to identify key markets that hold most potential for Link Natural Products, followed by a process of partner mapping and partner identification in the respective markets” said Hilmy Cader, Bahrain-based CEO of MTI Consulting Dr. Devapriya Nugawela, Chairman of Link Natural (2 nd  from right)  at the project launch with ...

MTD Walkers PLC, with its subsidiary companies, CML-MTD Construction, Northern Power Company, Walkers Piling and Walker Sons and Co. Engineers are engaged in multidisciplinary infrastructure activities locally and overseas. The Company’s high growth operations include large scale civil, mechanical and electrical engineering work, pile construction, power generation, manufacture of machinery for the plantations industry and building services. MTD Walkers PLC is a heritage firm, being the 7 th oldest company in Sri Lanka and has been in operation since 1854. Marking an extraordinary financial performance, the Company closed its 2014 financial year by quadrupling its revenue with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40% since 2010, which is 413% in absolute growth over the last 5 years. MTD Walkers also reached the milestone of Rs.10 Billion revenue for year ending March 31 st 2014 and is projecting to maintain this revenue growth rate. Speaking at the Kick...