Sri Lanka lacks proper mindset for IT industry growth, says start-up expert
With evolving new trends and modern applications coming into the IT industry, people need to change their mindset and invest in something that is going to be about the future of innovations. The poor knowledge people have in Sri Lanka and the lack of a right attitude is what makes them step back from experimenting with new ideas and applications.
Ehantha Sirisena
Speaking to the Business Times in an interview, OMAK Technologies Managing Director Ehantha Sirisena made this key point. Being a young entrepreneur who has launched a 3 year-old start-up company, Mr. Sirisena has achieved several targets in life. He shared some of his experiences with the Business Times in an interview arranged by SLASSCOM.
He said, “App development in Sri Lanka is improving but there is a long way for start-up companies to go to compare with those in the international market. The reason that people don’t invest in start-ups is because of the (capital) constraints. The Sri Lankan market is so small that people are not willing to spend that much money.”
“From the time OMAK started, the company has looked at ways to move into other markets. The company has already set up a branch in Indonesia and is also looking at upcoming markets like India, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. Getting into a new market is not cheap; it can be costly. You have to invest in people, training, air travel.
It’s the concept and how we deliver it that makes us unique compared to other start-up companies, we go through multiple levels of design. The restaurant management system is a OMAK point of innovation, which is catching up with the global market right now,” added Mr. Sirisena.
“If you look at the US market restaurant space, 70 per cent of their one million restaurants are run by one person in each restaurant. But when you look at Sri Lanka or any Asian country you need to have around 3-4 restaurants to make a decent profit. With Sri Lanka’s good customer service, we have to develop products to get ahead in the long run,” he noted.
Mr. Sirisena also mentioned that his company, which started off as a start-up company, is now competing with the big players in the industry. “It’s a strain when you are competing in a global market and against international products. Start-up companies should not be in the same space; they should try to go regional. You need to have a large group of investors with a proper focus. Right now there are only one or two investors who are taking the risk. We need to change the mindset of people who are getting into the field of IT, software and app development. Even the family background plays a big role in making a person into an entrepreneur. We need to have a proper network.”
Also there are no companies in Sri Lanka that do both software and hardware, not even a start-up company. “There are a lot of applications and information in the cloud. But the danger faced by a start-up company like OMAK is finding out that what is in the cloud might kill us. Big companies, when they go to the cloud, have the advantage of pricing themselves in line with the same price we offer which is our biggest fear,” he added.