At the peak of the event that brought in Sri Lanka’s foremost 6 businessmen in the country who control the key sectors of the economy, including Casinos, Banking, Export Crops, Power and Energy, Apparels, Retail, Liquor, Construction Sri Lankan Billionaire Sumal Perera went on to suggest that another Billionaire Dhammika Perera should be the next Presidential Candidate in the country.

Agreeing largely with his fellow Billionaire Moguls Dhammika Perera said as a person who has experience in both Private Sector and Government Sector being a former Secretary to Ministry of Transport he said he is willing to offer and to provide extensive expertise to the Government to assist policymakers to understand a range of issues from flood mitigation to debt management.

His extensive, in detailed explanations that included numerical values of economy and smart advice to participants on not becoming depressed over the country’s current political and economic situation and environment. Instead he advocated for professionals to focus on their work, assuring that Sri Lanka’s economic distresses were not as serious as they appeared.

“Any government asks for technical assistance and I’m happy to put my time because it is my passion. Even today you can ask how to restructure 40 ministries and I can answer. You can ask me how to restructure total debt, I can answer; I have solutions. I have done the research as part of my business and because I’m not involved in day-to-day operations I have enough time to do the analysis. It is because I have this knowledge that politicians sometimes seek my assistance and I can put my time into any government. I have no issue. But implementation is the biggest problem” Perera said.

Perera also offered to present a policy document with all his recommendations and policy proposals to the Government.

Observing these comments Billionaire Sumal Perera the founder of Access suggested Billionaire Dhammika Perera is ideal to become the next Presidential Candidate of the country. Dhammika Perera’s insightful advisory was well received by the audience, where Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy was also at the audience along with Minister of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga at the ‘Fireside Chat'. The event was organized by the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL) in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Sri Lanka Division and Daily FT. This exclusive event brought together Access Group Founder and Chairman Sumal Perera, Hirdaramani Group Director and former Chairman Janak Hirdaramani, Vallibel One Group Founder, Chairman and Managing Director Dhammika Perera, Stassen Group Chairman and Managing Director Harry Jayawardena, MJF Group Founder and Chairman Merrill J. Fernando, and Softlogic Holdings Founder, Chairman and CEO Ashok Pathirage who spoke at length of the challenges they had faced in their respective careers.

The 'Fireside Chat' was moderated by ICC Sri Lanka Chairman Dinesh Weerakkody and Daily FT Editor Nisthar Cassim. Event partners included TV Derana, Nations Trust Bank, and the Knowledge Partner for the event was Deloitte Sri Lanka with a featured special guest performance by the De Lanerolle Brothers.

The event was termed as a once in a lifetime show in the post war era in which Sri Lanka’s foremost Billionaire Moguls that control the largest sectors of economy providing employment to over hundreds of thousands of families in the country came into one stage with two moderators, one being the one who lead country’s two largest Licensed Commercial Banks in last 5 years and other being the country’s leading Financial News Editor who founded a Business News Daily after pioneering the Business Journalism in the country.