Sri Lanka’s ICT industry has set an ambitious goal to reach US$ 3 billion in export revenue by next year and is projected to contribute 15 billion dollars to the digital economy by 2030.
In a recent LMDtv interview, the Managing Partner of KPMG Sri Lanka Priyanka Jayatilake maintained that this is an attainable goal if Sri Lanka strengthens its investment potential, and develops, attracts and retains the right people.
He pointed to the need for a “conducive climate” to attract global players who will invest in the country. In addition to attracting businesses, he stressed the importance of making use of trending opportunities – for instance, attracting digital nomads.
Jayatilake explained that “there are millions of digital domains operating all over the world in the form of freelancers or those that are subcontracted to bigger entities. If you look at Thailand, it has around 125,000 digital nomads and maybe 30-40 percent earn more than US$ 100,000.”
He advocates attracting at least a portion of these digital nomads, “some of whom are considered to be high spenders.”
Moreover, Jayatilake believes that Sri Lanka can benefit from their consumption as well as investments, which will boost many sectors like tourism and hospitality, and contribute to bolstering our foreign currency reserves. “When more digital nomads operate from Sri Lanka, it will send a message to the world that this is the right destination for them to operate from,” he said.
Jayatilake stressed that Sri Lanka must have the right infrastructure facilities in place for these digital nomads – such as internet connectivity, communications and transport, as well as tax exemptions and long-term visas.
When it comes to local talent, he emphasised how important it is to upskill the country’s capabilities.
He elaborated: “ICT is a people-based industry; we certainly have to upskill our capabilities including people’s knowledge and the way they do business – not only the technical aspect but also soft skills including attitudes and mindsets.”
Education is a crucial area, in Jayatilake’s view. “Our education is not bad but we need to improve,” he said, adding that ICT education must be prioritised.
He asserted: “Once upon a time, English was considered an important subject but similarly, ICT is very important in today’s context. We need to encourage people to get into it even at the early stages of [their] education – maybe make ICT a compulsory subject at primary levels and keep it optional at advanced levels.”
“Investment in ICT education is very important. [The authorities] need to take it seriously to increase the capacity of graduates,” he stated.
Jayatilake stressed that every degree or higher education programme must have an ICT component to ensure that graduates have appropriate awareness of technology, regardless of whether they’re producers or consumers.
He also believes that having the right people working in ICT is crucial to attracting foreign investment: “If you don’t have [the right] people, there’s no need for someone to come here.”
“We have to produce more and more people,” Jayatilake said, adding that these people should be equipped to leverage opportunities in high value spheres such as AI, machine learning, blockchain and data science.
“These are the trends elsewhere in the world; so if we educate people and provide basic training, that would help Sri Lanka get to the next stage of development,” he added.
“ICT will be very important not only here but all over the world,” Jayatilake asserted, noting that technology will deliver many pros – such as improvements in productivity and efficiency, and lower transaction costs – as well as cons like the need for cybersecurity.
In his concluding remarks on the programme, he opined that Sri Lanka must be geared to harvest the potential of ICT by looking at it from all angles to ensure that the country enjoys the benefits it can bring.
