Sri Lanka aiming for a $150 bn economy
Audience
The Sri Lankan Government is aiming for a US$150 billion economy and is dedicated to establishing the foundation to reach that goal in the next four years, according to Ajith Nivard Cabraal, State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and Enterprise Reforms.
Speaking as the Chief Guest at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) 41st National Conference held over three days from January 18 to 20 mainly to a virtual audience, he said the achievements of the Government and the impressive run in the Colombo Stock Exchange proved the assumption that Sri Lanka’s share market has little depth is a fallacy.
He said the share market need not wait for foreigners as Sri Lanka has enough depth adding that when he met with stakeholders he has told them that Sri Lanka has Rs. 10 trillion in bank deposits which could be used.
Mr. Cabraal said the government has already started laying the groundwork by investing in infrastructure and set in place the right regulatory and policy environment to attract investors.
The inauguration of the conference was held at the Shangri-La Hotel on Monday for a limited audience while the conference proper, went online covering an audience of around 2,000 on the theme “Abnormal: Navigating Through Shattered Norms”.
Keynote speaker, Ms. Selyna Peiris, Director, Business Development, Selyn Exporters (Pvt) Ltd speaking on ‘Walk the Talk’ exemplifying her company, encouraged the corporate world to follow a sustainable business model to afford the highest importance to people, planet and profit.
Some of the participants at the inauguration were of the view that the Selyn Exporters’ model could fit into the present distressed ‘Abnormal’ circumstances as a viable parallel to the modern business, accounting and managerial strategies.
Their model has empowered the rural women with a secure job, provided them with the required skills, training and Ms. Peiris said that within their model they have developed their own welfare plan, while they have taken cognizance of the biggest concern of the stress that these people face during COVID-19.
They have been involved in the craft industry which is different from the garment industry. The company was floated in 1991 with a handful of rural women and now they are the only fair trade guaranteed handloom company that engages nearly 1000 rural women and men involved in handicraft and handloom weaving, handmade products with 100 per cent cotton with ‘infinite measures of skill and devotion of the workers, she proudly said.
She said that while the industry focus declines, they took on the challenge of reviving an ancient Sri Lankan heritage, extending its benefits to the rural women and men committed to fair-trading practices with hopes of not only empowering their members financially, but also to create a way of life which they are comfortable with. They are more than a handloom company, they are a Sri Lankan ‘community’.
At the initial stages of COVID-19, they decided to help fight back. They started producing face masks in line with the guidelines of the WHO conforming to all the health standards to alleviate the pressure on the demand for face masks with its marketing strategy that demonstrate what fair trading is, she pointed out.
The launch of the new venture enables supporting over 1,000 artisans and beyond during the difficult times, she said.
This is part of a global initiative of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) Asia and Fair Trade Enterprises in the region that aims to help the community, Ms. Peiris indicated.
She said: “Reaching out to our people is more important than profit and more important than reserves you have. To me leadership really matters. I am a COVID hero. We opened locally and internationally because of the way we branded our products. We have been able to turn out 250,000 masks and it is a huge quantity for a company like ours. The global audiences are looking up to people like us. Looking for people’s companies like us”.