Sri Lanka’s ICT/BPM brand ‘Island of Ingenuity’ launched in London during the period of the CHOGM 2018 in the UK
The National Brand for the Sri Lanka’s ICT/BPM sector, ‘Island of Ingenuity’ was launched in London last week on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the UK.
The brand launch had taken place in the presence of Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Finance, Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Sonali Wijeratne, Director General – Department of Commerce and Alexi Gunasekera, Deputy Director of Commerce, Indira Malwatte Chairperson and Chief Executive – Export Development Board, Ruwindhu Peiris – Chairman of Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM), Chrishan de Mel, Executive Director, SLASSCOM and Senuja Samaraweera, Commercial Counsellor, Sri Lanka High Commission in London.
The event also attracted many delegates from the Commonwealth Business Forum and was organized by the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC).
Launching the brand, Ruwindhu Peiris has reportedly noted the availability and access to top engineering talent, creativity and resourcefulness and a collaborative/partner mentality to co-innovate solutions differentiate Sri Lanka from other locations. He has also stressed on the opportunity for global companies to set up Captive Innovation Centres in Colombo, to leverage Sri Lanka to be your ‘Digital Gateway to Asia and to Invest in global “Digital Disruptors” that are developing domain-specific, transformative IP and business products.
A local media report stated that Sri Lanka’s IT industry has emerged and become globally competitive due to the unique talents of the workforce, the focus on high quality and reliability, but above all – ingenuity and creativity.
The report also noted that talented Sri Lankan tech entrepreneurs from around the world are returning from overseas to start innovative companies, and they are bringing with them global networks and global best practices. The sector has been supported by an advanced telecoms sector, which now boasts world-class digital infrastructure and competitive mobile and internet tariffs in the region.
There are leading IT companies from across the world already operating in Sri Lanka and successfully growing their business using local talent. Virtusa, the global IT services provider employs over 3,000 staff in Sri Lanka. Other examples of global organisations with their captive centres in Sri Lanka include HSBC, the London Stock Exchange Group and Pearson, the report further noted.
Increasingly, global companies are choosing to locate their research and development centres in Sri Lanka.
According to reports, Sri Lanka has continuously increased ICT exports and maintains an impressive upward trend in annual figures. More than 300 companies and 85,000 technologically savvy professionals are employed in the sector. The annual exports last year reached US$ 1 billion and targets to achieve US$ 5 billion of exports, provide 200,000 direct jobs and catalyze 1,000 start-ups by 2022.
OSL take:
The growth in Sri Lanka’s ICT exports is evident with the launch of the country’s ICT/BPM brand ‘Island of Ingenuity’ in London on the sidelines of the CHOGM summit. Sri Lanka possesses a good technological savvy professional as well as a skilled workforce in ICT thereby making the country a hotspot for foreign ICT businesses/investors to invest in the island nation. In the past few years, many globally renowned ICT companies have also set up base in Sri Lanka indicating the potential for opportunities for others to explore.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/26042018/Z_2 |