Create commercial value from knowledge gained -Kishu Gomes

Gain knowledge that can be converted to commercial value, gain knowledge that can be marketed or has a natural demand that alignment is critical for success and to go forward, said Managing Director and CEO Chevron Lubricants PLC, Kishu Gomes.

Addressing the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) annual conference as the guest of honour he called upon AAT to offer knowledge and skills that can be used by students to create commercial value.

He called upon all stakeholders in the country to focus on building knowledge and skills that has a demand in the new world rather than knowledge that has limited or no relevance in today's environment.

He said that future professionals need to understand that they have to accomplish their goals in a high, uncertain and turbulent environment and the only way to effectively respond' to the multiplying challenges is by multiplying your knowledge and skills on a continuous basis. Growing your capacity and competencies is the only solution to the growing issues in the operating environment.

People who lack professionalism believe that yesterday was better than today and they expect tomorrow to be better. This aspiration sets in complacency and forms wrong attitudes in the workforce in dealing with the situation.

The distinction though is that the Professionals are convinced that tomorrow will be much tougher than today and in fact it will get tougher by the day.

This reality should be the basis for any decision making. It's obvious that higher the degree of professional competency - the easier it is to perform the job to deliver maximum value to the employer or to create value for self in the case of entrepreneurs.

The 'true professionals' have an obligation to the people to navigate the tuburlent environment smoothly and bring about some level of certainty to the world.

Gomes said that for our country to achieve economic independence, the only resource we have in abundance is our people. Every other resource that can be used to generate revenue for the country has its own limitations. We have over eight million people in the workforce - 24% underemployment and 6.5% unemployment. So in absolute terms, more than 1.6 million people in the workforce are not making a meaningful contribution to the country's economy.

For future professionals, the job market in Sri Lanka will get tougher due to the fact that the local job market is being penetrated by expatriates, mainly from the neighbouring countries.

Sadly, we have a strategy of exporting unskilled labour and allowing the importation of very expensive professionals by default of otherwise, which I term as a 'suicide strategy' from our country's perspective.

We need to immediately correct this situation. There is no better strategy to counter this issue than elevating the knowledge and skills and thereby developing the professional standards of our workforce.