Need for upskilling the local talent pool in Sri Lanka
While the hunger for innovation and knowledge-based ideas keep emerging out of the local talent pool in the country, the product outcome does not reflect much of its enthusiasm. Start-ups have tremendous ideas but the execution is very poor, industry experts have said while adding the need for upskilling the existing talent focused to achieve greater results.
Last week a brand new start-up NiApreneurs, a social enterprise with the overarching objective of empowering communities through transformative collaborations with socially conscious business partners was launched at the Jetwing Hotel in Colombo.
At the event Nirmal De Silva, an Advisory Board Member to NiApreneurs noted that this new venture will address a huge gap in the market not only from a social enterprise or impact perspective but from a talent perspective of the country. “If Sri Lanka is to move into the next level of growth, to move out of the middle income country trap with a small resource pool of 21 million people, we need to get the best out of the knowledge workers we have. There is a lot of good talent that is unfortunately not contributing back to the economy,” he said.
Mr. Silva added, if there was purpose and passion, the public sector today will be much more efficient, productive and contribute towards the overall economy without burdening the taxpayer. “If we need to have a fundamental shift in the attitude of people, it needs to start by empowerment. Being happy about what you do is just not enough, but something more than world class.”
Sri Lankans must be trained and upskilled to compete on a global platform with a social entrepreneurship agenda where the impact is all about sustainability and training for a meaningful difference. Most organisations around the world are very much focused on success. They feel that their purpose is success. It’s very myopic to think like that because success does not revolve only on one aspect. But if this world is to move into the next 100 years, sustainability needs to play a key role starting from our own households, noted Mr. Silva.
Colombo Fashion Week Founder, Ajay Vir Singh stated, in the last 100 to 200 years the world has been divided into the Western and Eastern hemispheres. “Sri Lankans are the manufacturers and someone else in a foreign country owns the intellectual properties (IP’s). There is lack of strong creative industry which could create brands. Sri Lanka is manufacturing for big brands around the world. The country also must focus on sustainable brands. There should be more creative IP products coming out of Sri Lanka. It’s far too long we have been trading and manufacturing for foreign brands,” he noted.
NiApreneurs Co-founder and Director, Nilani Seneviratne stressed, “Each of us has the potential to be the authors of a better tomorrow and we are here to help others achieve the purpose in their lives and be the best version of them. Our mission is to be the social and business catalyst that empowers and transforms human capital to achieve their full potential by developing a knowledge economy in the country through social innovation and creativity.”
She added: “We plan to create and sustain social value while accelerating growth opportunities to bring what is best for our beneficiaries by engaging in the process of continuous innovation, adaptation and learning. Combining passion and purpose with sustainable returns, we look at solving the problem from a different vantage point, by building positive impact directly into our business model we believe that the focus on transformation will enable us to forge ahead.”