The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) was founded in 1948 soon after Sri Lanka gained independence from British colonial rule, primarily to establish a forum for the Sri Lankan business community. The foremost objective of the Chamber at that time was the Ceylonisation of trade, as the policy climate was not quite conducive to national interests. The Founder Members comprised of all leading ethnic groups, Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, and Burgher. In 1955, the Chamber was formally incorporated as a Company Limited.
Having achieved its foremost objective in the mid-fifties, the Chamber turned to address member issues faced by members.
During the last six decades the Chamber had emerged as the leading trade and industrial promotion body in the island. The Chamber is the focal point for member companies representing virtually the entire spectrum of industry, trade and commerce in Sri Lanka. Among them the Chamber counts some of the most vibrant and progressive business houses in the country.
The National Chamber, in its preparation for the future has identified steps to develop entrepreneurs and SME’s in several key industries in Sri Lanka.
- Value additions to the product and product life cycles in several sectors.
- Maintaining focus on core businesses to gain success.
- Provide members with qualitative information on businesses, products and markets.
- Identifying how well the Chamber could assist different enterprises.
- Providing SME’s with Financial Assistance to boost productivity and increase the employment rate where there are no mortgage requirements.
- Maintaining focus on the growth of the GDP.
- Providing technical training and assisting technology transfer.
The Mission is to provide trade promotion services and assistance required by businesses to function competitively in domestic and overseas markets and to represent them in matters of common and individual interest at all fora including discussions and deliberations convened by the government. The Mission is to be achieved primarily through enhancing the efficiency and competitiveness of firms countrywide and strengthening the dialogue with the government to assist in creating a conducive business environment.
The Vision of National Chamber is to be the leading source of services and assistance to businesses countrywide for promotion of domestic and foreign trade with special emphasis on the development of SMEs.
The National Chamber, in its preparation for the future has identified steps to develop entrepreneurs and SME’s in several key industries in Sri Lanka.
- Value additions to the product and product life cycles in several sectors.
- Maintaining focus on core businesses to gain success.
- Provide members with qualitative information on businesses, products and markets.
- Identifying how well the Chamber could assist different enterprises.
- Providing SME’s with Financial Assistance to boost productivity and increase the employment rate where there are no mortgage requirements.
- Maintaining focus on the growth of the GDP.
- Providing technical training and assisting technology transfer
CHAIRPERSON, VICE CHAIRPERSON AND DEPUTY VICE CHAIRPERSON
The Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and Deputy Vice Chairperson (the office bearers) shall be elected as follows:
A Committee member who currently holds the office of Vice Chairperson and who has completed a second consecutive term in that position shall be deemed to be elected by the Committee as Chairperson for the next succeeding term of office of the Committee, unless the Committee resolves to the contrary, in compliance with Rule 31. A Committee member who currently holds the office of Deputy Vice Chairperson and who has completed a second consecutive term in that position shall be deemed to be elected by the Committee as Vice Chairperson for the next succeeding term of office of the Committee, unless the Committee resolves to the contrary, in compliance with the provisions hereof. Subsequently, the Deputy Vice Chairperson shall be elected by the Committee from among persons who have served on the Committee for an aggregate period of two (02) years, after considering the recommendation of the ex-officio members of the Board and of the Nominations Committee.
President – National Chamber
Mr. Nandika Buddhipala is president of National Chamber. He possess post qualifying experience at KPMG Ford Rhodes Thornton and Company in Sri Lanka, Republic of Maldives and KPMG Peat Marwick Micheal in Sultanate of Oman from 1991 to 1993. He has worked as Financial Accountant and Finance Manager (1994 to 1999), General Manager- Finance & Administration (1999 to 2004 reporting to MD/CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (2004 to 2007) of Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd from 1993 to 2007. Currently, he is In charge of Finance, Treasury, Procurement and Stores, Administration, Credit Control, Logistics and Service Centre at different times.
National Chamber of Commerce under the presidency of the Mr. Nandika Buddhipala work with all the five generations from Traditionalists to Generation Z and establishment of the National Chamber of Commerce Youth Forum (NCCYF) few years back expanded our horizons to include the youngest generation into the Chamber umbrella.
The vision of the Chamber is itself Vision itself is a clear manifestation of our strong linkage with SMEs of the country where we have given special emphasize on the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. In order to achieve the vision, president of the National Chamber of the Commerce has remained focused to get ourselves out of our traditional domains and need to reach out to Micro and SMEs.
According to the President of National Chamber of Commerce: in developed or developing economies, SMEs are playing a crucial role by contributing to the economy. Be it business numbers, export growth, employment generation, output growth and contribution to supply chain etc. The lack of availability of SME performance related data is making a cloudy situation for policy makers in implementing coherent policy measures. Rapidly changing market demand, lack of capacity in knowledge, innovation and creativity are directly affecting the progress of the SMEs. Furthermore, when compared with large multinationals, SMEs are going through excessive challenges such as lack of economies of scale, lack of resources such as finance, technology and skilled labor, market access limitations and shortage of Research and Development expenses etc.
He is of the view that SMEs and Micro SMEs in Sri Lanka to access overseas markets through a credible authentic web platform. By creating such a platform for Sri Lanka, the National Chamber believes that potential Sri Lankan products will reach their market destinations easily. In order to meet this requirement the National Chamber has embarked on a nationally important mission to develop and professionally manage a web based platform named “fromSriLanka.com”.
National Chamber of Commerce and Digital Platforms
The world has moved to sourcing through digital platforms at a rapid pace where the Sri Lanka is now presented with lots of opportunities to expand our exports. With this in mind, The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka recently introduced the fromSriLanka.com website, a B2B buyer and seller connectivity platform, aimed at supporting Sri Lankan companies to promote their products and services to global buyers. As of today, the platform has got increased interest from exporters and potential exporters around the country. So far over 200 companies small to large have gone through the registration process who have added more than thousands of products & services with many more getting on board. The platform caters to a range of over 900 product/ service types from Tea, Rubber, Coconut, Spices and Ayurvedic items to Apparel, Gemstones, and furniture or services such as Software Development to BPO solutions the platform is expected to host thousands of Sri Lankan manufacturers and service providers, enticing millions of global business buyers. This platform is developed in partnership with Oracle using the latest performance and security features and utilizes a very responsive web design which is suitable for any PC, mobile phone or tablet using the most popular browsers.