As is traditional for The Jaffna Club, the December meeting instead of being on the last Sunday of December will be on the first Sunday of January. So as not to disturb end of year celebrations and recuperations.
Our speaker for Sunday 7th January will be Mr Bernard Sinniah who will tell us about his Flag Forum initiative. Bernard (known as Sinna) rose to become Citibank’s Global Head of eFX when he retired in 2018. Now a non-executive director of Sri Lanka’s NDB (National Development Bank), he is also an investor, director, and mentor to budding people and companies.
The Flag Forum will take a group of young people through a one year programme to develop Character, Personality, and English Proficiency. In Sinna’s words “The Forum is devoted to staying free from all social and cultural biases related to religion, caste, economic status and sexuality while actively striving to achieve gender equality and fairness for all”.
An excellent topic to start 2024, developing young people to provide a spark for our Northern economic development. With the latest Department of Census and Statistics figures published in December 2023 showing the Northern Province still at the bottom for Provincial GDP initiatives like this are surely to be supported.
From my perch in Jaffna I see things starting to move. But still too slowly! I am sure we all want to see the momentum building up in 2024, I hope we will do what we can to give it a push!
Topic: The Jaffna Club, Sunday 7th January 2024, The Flag Forum
