The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce yesterday said it is expanding its work to strengthen business continuity across Sri Lanka’s private sector, with the latest in a continuing series of Business Continuity Management (BCM) workshops completed this week.
The work directly supports the National Disaster Management Plan 2023-2030, which identifies the Ceylon Chamber as a lead implementing entity responsible for helping private-sector businesses prepare and implement Business Continuity Plans for disaster recovery and sustainability.
The two-day workshop conducted through the Chamber’s Centre for SMEs brought businesses through the key elements of Business Continuity Management, organisational resilience and disaster preparedness, with a focus on maintaining critical operations and recovering when disruptions occur.
The national plan recognises that keeping private-sector manufacturing, production, services and employment functioning during a disaster is an important part of national preparedness. It specifically calls for businesses to develop contingency plans and integrate them with wider disaster management structures.
This gives business continuity a significance beyond individual companies. A disruption to one business can affect employees, suppliers, customers and other businesses across a supply chain, making preparedness an important part of maintaining economic activity when a disaster or other major disruption occurs.
The workshop uses an ISO 22301:2019-based BCM curriculum developed under the World Food Program’s Disaster and Climate Resilience Project. It was facilitated by Bandula Wickramarachchi, an ISO-certified BCM trainer specialising in Business Continuity Management and organisational resilience.
Through its Centre for SMEs, the Chamber is continuing to conduct BCM workshops and capacity-building programs for corporates and SMEs. The programs are designed to help businesses identify critical functions, assess potential disruptions and establish arrangements for responding to and recovering from them.