The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) and the Colombo Stock Exchange, with the aim of attracting direct and portfolio investors including Sovereign Wealth funds, Private Equity funds and other top investors from across the world, has initiated the Sri Lanka Invest Forum (SLIF) 2021, slated to take place on a virtual platform from the 7- 9th June.
The Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM), as the national chamber for the knowledge and innovation industry in Sri Lanka with over 300 member companies accounting for 90% of the IT-BPM industry export revenue, flag bears the industry which has the potential to become the #1 export revenue earner for the country. SLASSCOM will be a key partner of the event, where they will bring in a team of renowned global speakers, who will give an insight into their experiences of investing in Sri Lanka and outline the success stories of their ventures. They will also provide their expertise of the diverse investment portfolios available in Sri Lanka.
The line-up of speakers brought in by SLASSCOM will include Jayantha De Silva, Secretary to the Ministry of Technology Sri Lanka , Kerry Hallard, CEO of the GSA and Chairperson at Global Technology & Business Services Council – GT&BSC, Dag Honningsvåg Serial Investor and Corporate Leader, Farazy Fahmy Director Research Synopsys Inc., Dr Romesh Ranwana, CEO Tengri UAV PTE LTD, Dinesh Wickremanayeka, Managing Director WNS Global Service, Shirmathi Shivashankar Corporate Vice President and the Program Director New Vistas HCL Technologies, Dee Liyanwela Global Head of Corp Services London Stock Exchange Group, Dr. Nisha Talagala CEO of Pyxeda AI, Bimal Gunapala, General Manager Willey Global Technology, Dr. Suresh Hettiarachchi Venture partner and Technology Commercialization Manager- 360ip Japan, Jehan Perinpanayagam, CEO Informate and Vice President of John Keells Holdings, Amardeep Devadasan, Senior Vice President Operations RR Donnelly Global Outsourcing and Vivek Sood, CFO Axiata Digital Labs.
Channa Manoharan, Chairman of SLASSCOM stated “ this is an opportune time for Sri Lanka to forge and build relationships for business and trade with other nations and we commend the CCC, BOI and CSE for organizing the SLIF. This event will be an ideal platform for Sri Lanka to attract foreign direct investments in diverse domains, SLASSCOM is delighted to partner with CCC, CSE, and BOI to promote the IT BPM industry – ‘The Island of Ingenuity’ value proposition to the world.”
Mr. Shiraz Lye, Board Director of SLASSCOM explained that events of this nature are very essential to help brand and position Sri Lanka as one of Asia’s top investment destinations. The event covers policy and regulatory frameworks for ease of doing business and future roadmap for trade and investment especially for the IT/ BPM industry, capacity and skills development strategies by government, academia and industry including awareness of infrastructure and network readiness and growth plans.
He further explained “investments in IT/BPM industry commenced 25 years ago and we were one of the first in Asia to open up, in-spite of challenges throughout the years the industry has been growing at a steady pace and now is the 4th highest export revenue earner. Many global companies came and set up operations since inception and has been successful in fulfilling their goals. SLASSCOM has reached out to these companies to share their journey of success at the IT/BPM breakout sessions during all three days of the event and it would be interesting to hear and learn from them.“
SLASSCOM acting as the catalyst of growth by facilitating trade and business, propagation of talent, education and employment, encouraging research and innovation, and by supporting the creation of a forward thinking and progressive national policy framework, will continue to partner with key events of this nature, and work closely with both the government and relevant public and private entities to drive this agenda forward. SLASSCOM is supported in all their initiatives by their Corporate Sponsor Dialog Enterprise.