Three organizations come together to host a Networking & Motivational event

On Sunday June 9th, 2019, Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) hosted a Networking & Motivational event in collaboration with Canadian Tamil Professionals Association (CTPA) and Center for Leadership & Innovation (CFLI). The event, titled as “Driven to Success” is a conversation with Bernard Sinniah and Dunstan Peter and was held at Netwyn Place in Scarborough.

“We initiated this event in order to provide a platform for successful Tamil entrepreneurs and business leaders to share their experiences and perspectives to motivate and inspire young individuals who aspire to achieve success in their chosen filed.  We are also pleased to partner with CTPA and CFLI”, said Dilshan Navaratnarajah, a Board of Director at Canadian Tamil Congress.

This event, moderated by Sumi Shan, member of the CTC Advisory Council, drew individuals from various fields and career backgrounds and well received by everyone attended.  “It was great to see three prominent organizations in the community coming together to host such a great event for the development of emerging entrepreneurs and professionals” said Selvajothy Ravindran, an attendee at the event.

First guest speaker, Bernard Sinniah is the former Managing Director of CitiBank and the Global Head of FX Corporate Sales and e-FX Solutions.  He retired in 2017 after 38 years, having started his career at Citi Colombo, then moved to Australia and finished his career based out of London.  Currently, he is the co-founder of iCAN, a personal motivational app and a Director of a Sri Lankan FinTech company –Transact Lanka which owns Roka Technologies. He has recently been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of National Development Bank (NDB) in Sri Lanka.

Bernard Sinniah shared his experiences and the lessons he learnt during his career and how he applied them for his own growth and success.  He described how his success at one point in time became arrogance and caused failure in his position as he decline to admit his weaknesses.  He then had to start a new position within Citi Bank at a lower level than he was. He also noted going back few steps in career is not a bad thing as long as people learn and move forward.  His humorous real life stories kept the audience engaged and alive.

Second guest speaker, Dunstan Peter is a young serial entrepreneur, philanthropist and a proud father. Dunstan is the founder and chief executive officer of Trinity Tech Inc., a multi-million dollar tech company.  With officers in Canada, US, Mexican, China and India Trinity serves more than 285 automotive companies, including international heavy weights such as Ford, GM and employs over 500 people.

Dunstan Peter completed his Bachelors of Electrical Engineering Science, specialized in Robotics and Systems Integration at Western University and his Executive MBA from Queen’s University. Dunstan is now an investor and a venture capitalist in innovative new venture start-ups across North America and passionate about helping young entrepreneurs and new immigrants to achieve their dreams.  He has championed various initiatives focused on giving back to community.  He formed Trinity Star Foundation to do many scholarship programs and support new immigrants in Canada and Sri Lanka.

Dunstan Peter, shared his success story, his childhood life and how he got his first break through in business.  He shared his principles in life and how he uses them to prioritize his goals.  One of his goals is to finish reading 1,000 books within the next ten years.  During the Q & A session, he provided valuable information about finding right opportunities, building a winning team, finding right people and many more coupled with his own experiences which was inspirational to all attendees.

Photos Courtesy Ninaivukal.