Scope for a Sri Lankan (Silicon) Valley
Success stories of many start-ups in US-based Silicon Valley are based just on pure talent and the belief people put on themselves to reach great heights. ‘You are the most powerful force in your life’ and do not worry about what others say and judge about one’s success. In Sri Lanka people grumble about the country being a small island and so on. Who cares? You have the Internet, you can email anyone you want and you are part of the world, it doesn’t matter if you’re on a small island. These comments emerged during a conversation between Brian Wong, Founder and CEO of Kiip, a US$ 20 billion start-up in the Silicon Valley, and the Business Times on the sidelines of the Disrupt Asia 2016 conference held at the Hilton in Colombo last week.
Young, talented and enthusiastic Mr. Wong shared his views on how Sri Lanka should focus and target to become a “Sri Lankan Valley.” He said, “Its unmistakable the amount of growth we have seen in the Silicon Valley and it’s crowded by big giant start-ups in the USA. The technology growth train does not stop anywhere, it keeps moving ahead. Also the young millennial generation that grew up with digital technologies know what is possible. Silicon Valley is just a signal for other countries to look towards, it’s not the end game. In any country or a city we find pockets of innovation.” Singapore has become a hub for innovation as a country and the numerous cultures there have given the country an added advantage for pockets of innovation to grow.
In Indonesia, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur lots of start-ups are coming up while the Malaysian government is putting a lot of effort to build more start-ups, he added. He also noted that Sri Lanka is not far behind from its neighbouring countries. The number of start-ups exists in this market and their ideas are amazing. The fact that they already have a product and they are building apps with great ideas and technologies is phenomenal. Mr. Wong made the keynote address at the conference that lasted for 1.5 hours which kept the audience at the edge of their seats with some interesting facts.
He elaborated 10 points on which start-ups can become successful and interested everyone at the conference in working to bring out the talent and knowledge embedded within each individual. He also shared his life experiences and the challenges he faced to achieve great targets. Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) CEO and Managing Director Muhunthan Canagey told the Business Times that Disrupt Asia 2016 is the first of the series of conferences for start-ups in Sri Lanka to bring creative minds together to build great products in Sri Lanka and make sure these are taken to a global audience.
“This is a forum put up by ICTA to enable the industry and build a lot more entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. Start-ups in Sri Lanka are growing rapidly and it has picked up really fast. We need to make sure great products come up and talk about their success stories,” he added. During the conference, Mr. Canagey mentioned about an eight -point plan for a digitally inclusive Sri Lanka, namely digital government, economy, identity, content, jobs and opportunities, connectivity and infrastructure, legislation and security. “We are working with all government institutions to get them online for the public to fill out forms online and to discuss any issues,” he noted.