CIM confers an Honorary Fellowship on Vijith Kannangara

The Chartered Institute of Marketing conferred an Honorary Fellowship on Dr Vijith Kannangara at a Gala Black-tie dinner with the Institute’s Fellows and Chartered Marketers.

He is the founder Chairman of Q&E Advertising, Smart Media and Affno. Paul Gostick, Chairman, International Board of Trustees of CIM UK was the chief guest and Dr Hans Wijesuriya, CEO of Dialog Telecom was the guest of honour. Past Chairman of CIM Sri Lanka Region and senior marketers were among the distinguished gathering. Lasantha Wickremesooriya – past Chairman CIM Sri Lanka region and Member of CIM International Board of Trustees read the citation. Following are extracts:

‘The gentleman we are recognizing and decorating tonight appears as the personification of successfully developing a new facet in the marcom industry in Sri Lanka. Starting from scratch, way back in 1991, this truly memorable son of the soil, has built a successful marcom business in Sri Lanka, and arguably the most valuable local brands, in their respective categories. Commencing his pioneering role in transforming the form and content of listed company reports, he expanded his pioneering efforts to create the category of independent advertising agencies in Sri Lanka and subsequently established the interactive agency category at world class standards’.

‘He is no Brahmin, with his head in the clouds, but a man with his feet solidly planted on the good Sri Lankan earth, from which he has derived inspiration for some of the most innovative ideas, which have transformed the very nature of the marcom industry in this country. An industry, which was hitherto dominated and considered the forte of multinationals. Leading from the front, sans any expertise in marcom, but with totally self acquired experience, he was successful in bringing together a team of talented people and moulding them to break new ground’.

‘Dr Kannangara is a thought leader. Through his portfolio of enterprises, he was responsible for introducing many firsts to marketing in Sri Lanka. These include: Creating awareness amongst Sri Lanka’s Corporate community, about the whole subject of brands and branding in the late 90’s; providing a world class interactive agency solution to Sri Lankan organizations at a time when such services were highly sought after and difficult to obtain even in the most developed markets; Innovations in presenting Annual Reports from knowledge Management reporting, to triple bottom line reporting, human resource accounting and corporate governance ratings that have enabled Sri Lankan reports to be leaders by far in the entire South Asian Region’.

‘Dr Kannangara’s latest venture is BeeQu; once again a new category business, providing customized Business Intelligence solutions to customers world-wide’.

‘A close associate Dr. Uditha Liyanage, describes Dr Vijith Kannangara as a hybrid; a Scientist and an Artist. . He goes on to say that when the Scientist gets the better of the Artist in him, Vijith is a businessman. And when the Artist gets the better of the Scientist in him, Vijith is an ordinary creative person. But when the Scientist and the Artist in him come together, transcending each one, separately and individually, then Vijith Kannangara is at his best’.

‘For those who work with Vijith, he is a man who respects ideas of others, builds confidence, encourages, motivates and takes personal pride in the achievement of his team members’.

‘Ladies & Gentlemen, to-night, Dr. Vijith Kannangara brings honour to Sri Lanka, when he is elected as the only Sri Lankan to be granted an Honorary Fellowship, by the CIM – UK a decision made by the Board of Trustees, the highest governing body of the Institute’.

Tags: Financial Times, Sri Lanka, CIM – UK

About these ads