Pathfinder Foundation presents report on local crises to Finance Minister
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From left - Ms. Avanthi Colombage - Country Manager, Sri Lanka and Maldives, VISA; Rajendra Theagarajah, Senior Visiting Fellow – Pathfinder Foundation; Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa; K. Balasundaram, Director / CEO – MMBL – Pathfinder and Ms. Mamta Ameera Arooz, Executive Director – Pathfinder Foundation.
The Pathfinder Foundation this week presented a report to Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa examining the implications of the April 2019 terror attacks and the subsequent COVID-19 Pandemic on the Micro and Small and Medium Enterprise segment (SME) and tourism/inbound leisure sector related supply chains.
It was prepared by a group led by Rajendra Theagarajah, Senior Visiting Fellow, Pathfinder Foundation, the organisation said in a media release.
The study also examined the current state of the ‘start-up’ ecosystem, specifically the Fintec and Agr-tec players, and the opportunities for this sector to energise the MSME/SME segment in contributing meaningfully towards the economic revival of Sri Lanka. Visa, the global leader in digital payments, joined Pathfinder as a strategic partner in bringing local and global insights relating to the role of ‘digitalisation’ in the above conversation, the release said.
Knowledgeable and experienced persons ranging from policy makers, private sector and business chambers were invited as panellists at the three workshops moderated by Mr. Theagarajah as a part of the study.
The release said the Pathfinder Foundation earlier submitted a comprehensive list of recommendations for consideration by the Government of Sri Lanka in July of 2020, which was captured under “Beyond the Box: A New Economic Vision for Post Covid-19 Sri Lanka.”