Financial Times

Sri Lankan firms need to be brave to expand internationally, however political stability is an urgency in order for conducive investments to take place, according to a multi national consultancy firm.

“There is a lot of interest from companies in Sri Lanka to expand overseas, but that interest is followed by extreme caution, which might not be a good thing, given the global context that we are operating in, such a scenario the firms have to be brave to place their people in overseas markets for aggressive expansion,” said Sanjeev Abeynayake, Director and Senior Consultant, MTI Consulting (Pvt) Limited, at the company’s Global Leaders’ Forum.

He said that Sri Lanka reflected the global rise in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), but it could always attract more. “The FDI rise in the world has been reflected in Sri Lanka, but comparatively the region has attracted much more. The political stability, government policy and the reserve money of the people play a large role in attracting a FDI,” he said.

MTI Consulting, a multinational consulting firm has made in-roads in the region with many branches set up in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, having shared its expertise in over 250 business projects in 29 countries across 5 continents.
“Last year our Pakistan branch expanded rapidly and we have attracted many companies who want to eventually enter Sri Lanka,” said Dhanushka Jayakody, Lead Consultant, Pakistan and Indian Sub-continent, MTI Consulting said.

He further stressed that Sri Lanka was a good practise ground for large conglomerates to enter this region. “Here people are open to credit and because of this they are open to consumerism. However, the situation can be improved if the political situation in the country stabilises,” he said.

Hina Sarwat, Junior Consultant, MTI Consulting Bahrain commented that Sri Lankan companies have a huge potential to expand to gulf countries such as Oman and Qatar. “There is a lot happening in terms of real estate in theses countries and Sri Lankan companies could find lucrative markets for expansion,” she said.

Country Manager-UAE, MTI Consulting, Samreen Ahsan, said their operations which began last year served mainly as a transit point of channelling business to Sri Lanka.

“We are based in Dubai and as it is a transit harbour for the Middle East it also serves as a primary entry point in to the North Africans markets such as Egypt, Morocco and even Sudan,” she said.

Meanwhile, Subash Bidare, Country Manager, MTI Consulting India pointed out that some Southern Indian companies were looking at a channel based arrangements such as distributing or agency partners to establish businesses in Sri Lanka but said, “political stability has deterred many Indian companies coming into Sri Lanka.”