The first Retail Mastery Program held in Sri Lanka came to a successful close on the 9th of February 2017. Organized by 3W Consulting, Enterprise Renewal and Management Consultants, together with the Global Retail Academy (GRA), the 2-day program took place at the Crystal Ballroom of Taj Samudra in Colombo.
The aim of the Retail Mastery Program was to drive thought leadership and top retail talent in Sri Lanka, offering internationally recognized training and qualifications for Sri Lanka’s retail professionals. The program was the first event of the Retail Black Belt Series – an international qualification for retail professional.
The program was conducted by two of the world’s most influential retail gurus and supply chain experts, Mr. Prakash Menon and Mr. Andrew Cavanagh, featuring sessions on three primary topics consisting of Retail Strategy, Retail Metrics and Merchandise Planning.
The program was recognized and attended by top retailersin Sri Lanka including companies such as Jaykay Marketing (Keells), Richard Peiris, Singer, Super Colloids Lanka, Whittall Boustead Ltd, Phoenix, Hameedias, Cool Planet, Avirate, Dialog, Dilmah, Hemas, Hettigoda Industries and Dipped Products. Participants from these organizations willnow be eligible to claim the ‘Green Belt in Retail’ accredited by the Global Retail Academy following the completion of a post-program assignment.
Prakash Menon said, “This program offers participants the tools and techniques to enhance their retail workspace and is structured in such a way that they can take the learnings back to their teams and impart the knowledge they’ve gained within their organisations. The course work doesn’t end in 2 days; participants need to go back to work and put into practice what they have learnt, over the next couple of months, and report back on the results, the impact, the challenges etc. through an assignment. We are not trainers, we’re practitioners.
The objective of the program is to empower the organization’s retail workforce to contribute towards the growth of their organizations, whilst enhancing theparticipant’s personal growthand performance. Driving topline sales and bottom line profit is a challenge today, andretailers are struggling across the globe facing competitionin the form of online retailing which is experiencing a seismic change.
Retail companiesneed to be proactive,agile and flexible so that theycan survive in the industry”.