Unlocking the imagination economy

The Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (Slasscom), the country’s chamber for the knowledge and innovation industry, has set itself some ambitious goals. By 2030, it aims to reach US$5bn in export revenue earnings annually, to expand the workforce to 200,000, to launch a thousand start-ups, and to be the world’s first green IT and business process management (BPM) destination.

The association’s new chair, accounting and C-level veteran Jehan Perinpanayagam, says that Sri Lanka is on track to be a leading tech and innovation hub. ‘It’s time to promote our “Island of Ingenuity” – IOI – brand to the world,’ he says. ‘We want global companies to be aware of Sri Lanka as an IT/BPM hub. Those who visit and explore are so impressed; they immediately see the immense potential of our talent, the quality of the infrastructure and the value Sri Lankan companies can bring to the table.’

He adds: ‘For me, IOI stands for our commitment to ingenuity, to innovative solutions and adding value to our customers. It also stands for our track record of dependability, reliability and resilience. The brand reflects our pride in our people and industry, the passion, and our warmth and lifelong friendships and partnerships.’

Inclusive

Jehan has also set his sights on ensuring that Sri Lanka is known as a socially responsible destination. Women make up 50% of the BPM industry in Sri Lanka, including leadership positions. Women’s participation is being actively encouraged through a women technopreneurs forum, through mentoring and support, and through a returnship programme that encourages and empowers women to return to work after a hiatus.

‘Our ESG agenda includes promoting tech for good, inclusive growth across Sri Lanka, development of new talent pools, and creating social projects and environmental procedures to promote sustainability,’ Jehan explains, adding that he and his team also want to prioritise employee wellbeing, help businesses to adopt sustainable measures and encourage start-ups to come up with green tech innovations.

‘We are showcasing innovations in green technology, ideas and hackathons, and regularly inspiring our start-ups to consider innovations in green tech as there is reliable research that the next billion-dollar unicorns will be in green tech,’ he says. ‘We want Sri Lanka to be the world’s first green IT/BPM destination.’

This has involved providing members with sustainability-linked policies to implement, free training for their employees, ESG webinars, and an industry-specific set of guidelines on key performance indicators.

Although Jehan says Sri Lanka has done ‘very well to promote inclusive work’, he knows there’s more to do. While there are IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies across the country, he wants to see ‘more representation and to develop talent in rural areas. That’s something we want to accelerate. There’s great talent everywhere.’ To achieve this, career weeks are conducted across the island to build awareness and drive interest. Slasscom also engages with universities, schools and vocational training bodies to encourage non-tech students to transfer to IT/BPM.

Future-ready skills

Working closely with government universities, Slasscom has developed programmes such as Future Careers Bridge so students from different disciplines can become part of the IT-BPM workforce. Through a series of challenges developed with the industry, students are equipped with specific skills. State universities now solicit input from Slasscom when developing a syllabus or rolling out a new IT qualification.

Jehan highlights the importance of a future-ready workforce for the sustainability of the knowledge industry. ‘Skills in demand would include AI and machine learning, data science, cloud and Java, together with the right soft skills. We want to build a future-ready workforce and strong talent pipeline ready to serve the world.’

He says young professionals need to be digitally literate ‘and have the confidence that we can be the best in the world’.

Many Sri Lankan companies in the knowledge industry serve leading international brands. ‘Now, it’s not only accounting and finance,’ Jehan says, pointing out that the sector is expanding into artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning-related services.

While Sri Lanka has a smaller workforce than larger players like India and the Philippines, the country is a niche destination offering highly skilled talent at affordable prices, he says. ‘If you want a mid-sized team with stability, a focus on value addition and process improvements, a service mindset and senior management involvement, Sri Lanka is ideally suited. We can compete on quality, process and innovation.’

Bigger ambitions

Chair of the ACCA Sri Lanka network panel since 2022, Jehan says ACCA is supplying industry leaders with future-ready skills. ‘Data science and ESG principles are vital for the knowledge industry, and ACCA is focused on these aspects as part of its qualification syllabus and continued learning,’ he says, adding that collaboration with ACCA is very important for businesses in recruiting accounting talent.

As the head of Sri Lanka’s first shared services centre back in 2005, Jehan is a pioneer in the industry and has been involved for nearly two decades. He first got noticed through his involvement in a project that championed rural employment and women’s empowerment.

‘I liked the idea of taking a start-up, expanding it and building a world-class company,’ he says. Infomate began with 60 people and is now one of the country’s top six BPM exporters, with clients in the UK, the US, Australia, Sweden and Saudi Arabia.

Purpose-driven

Jehan describes his leadership style as purpose-driven and collaborative. ‘I believe strongly in making a difference through business. I believe in the vision for my company, the industry and the country. Being able to present and showcase with confidence the fantastic talent and potential that is there is important, as is the need to listen, keep learning all the time, and keep an open mind.

‘Sometimes as professionals we limit ourselves. We need to have that ability to think big. There is a world of opportunities. Our ambitions and aspirations must be bigger.’