The S Blog deals with the interests of a Sri Lankan abroad and is called The S Blog due to the many S topics covered. They include Sri Lanka, Songs, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Science Fiction, Star Trek and even other non S topics.
I decided to write an article giving my vision of technology investments in Sri Lanka. I think technology multinationals are companies Sri Lanka should try to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) from. Sri Lanka can focus on getting these companies to set-up their Sri Lankan operations with modern buildings being constructed. One area getting these companies to focus on is the South Asian region with South Asian headquarters being a possibility. If that’s too difficult an investment to obtain, another option is having a software development centre for South Asia. This includes India which is one of the most populated countries in the world. This would bring a massive number of Sri Lankan jobs.
In my previous article “Five Export Diversification Options for Sri Lanka”, two of the options I mentioned are computers & electronics and visual effects for Hollywood. As part of this, we can get technology companies to set-up manufacturing operations in Sri Lanka and attract global visual effects companies to have Sri Lankan offices.
Technology multinationals can bring advanced technology to Sri Lanka. These companies could offer modern services using this technology to the Sri Lankan market directly and also collaborate with others in Sri Lanka. I envision collaborations using this technology being agreements with Sri Lankan companies in the private sector to sell services through it and secure Sri Lankan government contracts with it. Tech companies could also do work for the Sri Lankan government on digitisation. I see their charitable activities as using their technology and expertise to benefit the poor and rural Sri Lanka.
This is a small selection I gave of the value of tech investments into Sri Lanka. There are many more possibilities I didn’t mention. Professionals involved in Sri Lanka’s technology sector and in obtaining FDI could expand on this with more detailed proposals. I’d be interested to hear if you have any ideas on tech investments in Sri Lanka. As Colombo has new buildings constructed, I am of the view that technology companies are a good sector for us to attract to enhance this contemporary trend.
This is my 100th blog post. I started this blog “The S Blog” eight years ago. I decided to write a post giving some highlights from this blog and some new content based on the topics I cover.
I write about Sri Lanka on this blog as it’s an interest of mine and where I call home. Sri Lankan blog posts have covered economics, politics, history, photos and more. I’ve also shared ideas of my own that I think would improve Sri Lanka. I’ll include three Sri Lankan images I’ve taken below with a link to the blog post it’s from. The text comes from those blog posts.
We just looked at three different images from Sri Lanka which are regional, Kandy and Colombo. They show the unique look of each one and reflect Sri Lanka’s colourful nature. Wellawatte is where I was when I lived in Sri Lanka.
I’m a fan of classic rock music that uses piano. The singers I like the most are Elton John and Bob Seger. I’m going to embed my favourite Bob Seger song which is “Even Now”. It’s a piano-driven rock song from the 1980s. Bob provides a powerful melody and singing. It reached Number 12 in the US charts, but it unfortunately isn’t remembered as one of his classics. I hope it will someday be remembered that way. I consider it to be an incredible heartland rocker.
Caleb Quaye plays all the guitars on this Elton John song including an acoustic guitar in the background. The song opens with Caleb’s guitar intro. Elton’s piano comes in and out before coming in fully for a full band sound. This rocker incorporates elements of country and blues. The backing vocals sound like a choir. There is a special percussion beat going on during the choruses. Elton’s piano and Caleb’s guitars play well with each other including the powerful guitar solo that comes around the halfway mark. Ballad of a Well Known Gun is a good example of an americana styled rock song written by Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin.
When I did the retrospective post “The S Blog One Year On” in January 2017, I created a word cloud of the words used in my blog’s first year. I just created another word cloud for my blog. I suspect it is covering the last year plus my blog labels. This was created using the website WordArt.com.
The top ten words are Song, Sri, Piano, Rock, Lanka, Bob, Bill, Elton, Plays and Sing. This makes sense as I write about songs & Sri Lanka and I’m into piano rock music. Bob represents Bob Seger and Elton represents Elton John. Bill is referring to keyboardist Bill Payne who I’ve written about on this blog. I recently wrote an article about his keyboards for Bob Seger. While Elton so far hasn’t worked with Bill Payne, he thinks highly of Bill’s piano playing. Elton John and Bob Seger came together via Bill Payne on Bob’s song “Love’s the Last to Know” that features Bill Payne on piano and Elton’s guitarist Davey Johnstone on acoustic guitar.
One issue I’ve been having most of the time over the last year onwards is an enormous amount of fake traffic. Real traffic unfortunately got much less since I began this blog. As this is my 100th post, it’s difficult to get 100 views and when I reach it, fake traffic plays a big role in it. I would like to have the amount of fake traffic replaced by real traffic with getting at least 100 views being normal. I’ll give four less known blog posts of mine which I’d like to see get more exposure. The heading has their name/link and date with a brief description below.
My 75th blog post about ten rock songs I enjoy that feature electric piano. The artists featured are Blues Image, Traffic, Elton John, Bob Seger, Eagles, Billy Joel, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Christopher Cross, Toto and Bad English.
This is about “Honey Man”, a duet by English superstars Elton John & Cat Stevens recorded in 1970. This song was unreleased until 2001. I embed it in the post.
I give five sectors I’m suggesting Sri Lanka diversity its exports into which are computers & electronics, visual effects for Hollywood, pianos & keyboards, vehicles and planes.
I’m pleased to reach 100 blog posts. I plan to continue writing about similar issues to what I’ve written before and hope to cover new ground in future posts.
I decided to write an article providing five options I think Sri Lanka can diversify its exports into. I’d like to point out that this isn’t a detailed analysis on how it can be done. It’s my own ideas on improving Sri Lanka’s exports.
Computers & Electronics
Products I’m thinking of are desktops, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and televisions. We can make agreements with international computer & electronics companies to manufacture components of those devices with the goal of making complete devices. Sri Lankan brands can also manufacture computers & electronic items. It’s important to note that the Sri Lankan company EWIS is successfully manufacturing computing devices. EWIS collaborated with Singhagiri to launch Sri Lanka’s SGL Android Smart TV in January 2023. This Smart TV is manufactured in Sri Lanka.
Visual Effects for Hollywood
I’d like to see a Sri Lankan visual effects company work on Hollywood films. Hollywood has outsourced visual effects to some companies in Asia. Even if it’s a very small contribution, it would be a win. We can start this with goals of where we want to be over the next 10 years. As a Sri Lankan sci-fi fan, I would love to see a Sri Lankan visual effects company working on a sci-fi blockbuster. There is also the possibility of securing Sri Lankan offices for international visual effects companies. Hollywood visual effects work would bring in jobs and revenue to Sri Lanka which could help with the issue of brain drain.
Pianos & Keyboards
I think Sri Lanka could get into the industry of making pianos and keyboards. Pianos include grand pianos, upright pianos and digital pianos. Digital pianos and electronic keyboards would also tie into computers & electronics I mentioned above. We can learn from Indonesia, another tropical country which is a successful piano manufacturer. There are pianos of the Japanese brands Kawai and Yamaha made in Indonesia.
Vehicles
Sri Lanka has the potential to get involved in vehicle manufacturing. The Sri Lankan company Vega Innovations has made the Vega EVX, Sri Lanka’s first electric sports car. This project has been promoted for many years, so it would be good if it could begin its sales soon. Last year, Vega Innovations introduced the electric three-wheeler Elektrateq ETX. Electric three-wheelers are a good market to focus on due to three-wheelers’ environmental issues and their use in both Sri Lanka & the developing world. Moving back to cars, I don’t think we should focus exclusively on luxury vehicles as it’s important to make cars for regular consumers.
Planes
I believe planes is an industry Sri Lanka can get involved in. It’s not well known that Sri Lanka already has a boatbuilding industry. Expertise from that industry can be transferred to the manufacturing of planes. It’s good to start off with small planes and have a goal to eventually build aeroplanes. In the aviation sector it’s unfortunate to hear negative stories of Sri Lankan Airlines. Making aeroplanes would be something positive that could transform Sri Lanka’s aviation sector.
Those were my suggestions for Sri Lanka’s export diversification with some real-life initiatives mentioned. Feel free to give your thoughts on this issue including if there are other industries you think Sri Lanka should get involved in as an exporter.
Tomas Pueyo recently wrote an article “Why Half of Humanity Lives in This Circle”. The circle he is referring to is known as the Valeriepieris circle as it was posted on the site Reddit by Ken Myers under the username valeriepieris. This circle is in much of Asia. I found it interesting as Sri Lanka is part of this circle. Sri Lanka is also part of the world’s most populated continent, Asia. I decided to write an article about Sri Lanka’s role in the circle which can also extend to Sri Lanka’s role in Asia. I’m presenting a positive fact about Sri Lanka with suggestions on how Sri Lanka can take advantage of this, especially during its current economic crisis.
This is a region that Sri Lanka can work on increasing its exports. Exporters of food should look for countries in this region who have a demand for agricultural items and packaged goods. Some packaged goods can be popular in regions nearby due to similarities in culture with Sri Lanka including neighbour India that is one of the world’s most populous countries. Items can be produced in Sri Lanka to support products manufactured in this region e.g. car parts. In the process of our export diversification, it’s important to look at how it can support this region.
FDI & Business Collaboration
Sri Lanka should try to seek foreign direct investment (FDI) from this region. We need to attract investment from successful industries in these countries to improve their counterparts in Sri Lanka. Companies from these countries can open offices in Sri Lanka to provide jobs with higher salaries than average. Sri Lankan businesses can seek business projects servicing clients in this region to cater to the majority of the world’s population.
Two years ago on this blog, I had mentioned an agreement signed between Sri Lanka’s Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Industries (COSMI) and the European Association for Trade - Crafts - Industries (EIVHGI) in Vienna. Similar agreements can be signed with business organisations in this region.
Learn from Countries’ Successes
Countries in this circle have successes they are highly regarded for which Sri Lanka can learn from. I’ll give two countries’ successes. The South Korean economy went from an agricultural economy like Sri Lanka to one of the world’s leading economies. South Korea initiated policy reforms that led to significant growth in exports. Two important factors are the improvements they made in performing business and policies in support of innovation.
Singapore has taken strides in the fight against corruption. Their government agency responsible for investigating bribery and corruption is the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). When Singapore received self-governance in 1959, corruption was very prevalent in the government. Years later, following Singapore’s independence, laws were updated to strengthen the powers of CPIB officers and increase penalties for those guilty of corruption. It’s important to note that the CPIB’s powers to investigate corruption includes the private sector. These are a few positive changes initiated in these countries with many more successes to learn from. We can invite professionals from these countries to bring their expertise to help improve Sri Lanka.
Movement
This idea goes beyond Sri Lanka with the potential for a movement that can invite people from all these countries to have a voice on the world stage. This should be carried out by ordinary people and not involve politicians due to issues of bribery, corruption and bad character being unfortunately present among politicians in Asia. A focus on this movement should be on common improvements people in this circle wish to see.
This was a simple exercise I carried out. Sri Lanka being part of the world’s most populous region is a little-known positive fact for Sri Lankans to enjoy. I invite others to contribute on this topic. I’m keen to see what others can come up with using an in-depth analysis for Sri Lanka and other countries in the Valeriepieris circle. If you enjoyed reading this, you may be interested in my blog posts “Virtually Exploring Five Asian Cities” or “Sri Lankan Private Sector Development Proposal”.
Today, the Fourth of February 2023 marks 75 years of Sri Lanka’s independence from Britain. Unfortunately, it’s so tragic that Sri Lanka is in one of its darkest periods right now, going through a severe economic crisis. I wish Sri Lanka was in a much better place without all the current and long-term problems that predated the crisis. I decided to give a short reflection on this anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence. My view is that the corrupt politicians may be able to steal Sri Lanka’s money & resources and use its people, but they cannot take away the meaning and importance of the country, including Sri Lanka’s Independence Day. We Sri Lankans must not let them do that.
Sri Lanka’s Independence Day represents breaking free from colonialism which the country had suffered greatly from. Though the British became the first colonial power to colonise the whole island in 1815, Sri Lanka had been colonised by the Dutch & Portuguese prior to the British having experienced a total of almost 400 years of colonialism. This day is also a day to enjoy and celebrate Sri Lanka. 75 years of independence is a landmark anniversary for Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans of all generations can look back to positive memories and experiences of theirs in Sri Lanka covering 1948 to the present day. This can include beautiful Sri Lankan scenery you’ve seen, trips taken with family and/or friends, great Sri Lankan days of yours and much more.
A positive aspect of Sri Lanka’s independence movement is that it was achieved peacefully. That gives us hope of what we can achieve with sensible movements for change in Sri Lanka. May we gain wisdom to take Sri Lanka forward. We must learn from our wrongdoings, failures and mistakes. Let’s make the next 75 years much better than the previous 75 years. We need to do this for our future generations. We can make Sri Lanka clean, transform our bad politics into something good, remove discrimination, have a unified Sri Lankan identity, diversify our exports, attract needed foreign direct investments (FDI), build a stable economy and more. Happy Sri Lankan Independence Day!
Sri Lanka is unfortunately in a sad state right now with its biggest problem being the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also the X-Press Pearl ship tragedy which is causing a serious marine environmental disaster as well as the floods and landslides. As a comfort to these difficult times, I decided to provide a list of positive incidents that occurred in Sri Lanka during the first half of this year. As I heard many of these stories from the companies responsible, I would like to say that I have no affiliation with any of these companies. I’m not trying to downplay or deny the problems facing Sri Lanka. I’m showcasing a side of Sri Lanka which gets less attention. I feature stories relating to exports, agriculture, sustainable business, the environment and more.
Tea Export Increases
The first three months of this yearsaw an increase of tea exports compared with the first three months of last year despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In January to March 2020, Sri Lanka exported 59.58 million kilograms of tea. This figure rose to 69.89 million kilograms of tea in January to March 2021 reporting a 17.3% increase. Similarly, Sri Lanka’s tea production in those periods increased by 34.2% from 53.68 million kilograms in January to March 2020 to 74.03 million kilograms in January to March 2021.
Spotify Sri Lanka
On the 24th of February, Spotify launched in Sri Lanka. Spotify is a popular global streaming service allowing people to listen to music. Spotify’s launch in Sri Lanka is part of its expansion into over 80 new markets globally. Spotify’s free service has restrictions, most notably its advertisements. Spotify Premium is the paid version of the service that is ad-free and allows downloading songs for offline listening. Spotify Sri Lanka has different premium plans for student, individual, duo and family. Listeners in Sri Lanka can listen to both international and Sri Lankan music on Spotify. An international album I recommend is the 1989 album “Sleeping With The Past” by my favourite singer Elton John. It features the hit songs “Healing Hands”, “Sacrifice”’ and “Club At The End Of The Street” which are well known in Sri Lanka (links lead to those songs on Spotify).
Sustainable Business
In early April, it wasreported that Cargills initiated the first car park made of non-recyclable plastic in Sri Lanka. They partnered with AGC Innovate to launch the initiative “Paving with Plastic” where they made the decision to pave their Food City car parks using Plastic Modified Asphalt Concrete (PMAC), a green form of concrete using plastic. Plastic after use causes environmental problems due to staying in the environment without decomposing. The first car park constructed this way is the car park of their new Food City outlet in Walgama, a suburb of Matara. This car park has an area of 2100 square metres constructed using 800 kilograms of plastic waste which is the equivalent of 200,000 plastic bags.
Similarly,later that month Cargills teamed up with Unilever to reduce plastic waste for a recycling initiative. This initiative is a sustainable plastic waste management system that is operating at nine Cargills Food City Colombo outlets in addition to one KFC restaurant. There are bins at these locations where customers can dispose of hard plastics (cubs, tubs, bottles) or flexible plastics (wrappers, shopping bags). This plastic waste will be taken to a collection hub where it will be further segregated. The recyclable plastic waste will be sent to recycling centres and the non-recyclable plastic waste will go to waste-to-energy recovery centresfor incineration. Cargills hope to eventually extend the project to cover all of their Food City outlets.
Unilever, the partner on Cargills’ plastic waste management system, revealedon this year’s World Environment Day (5th of June) that they’ve reduced their per tonne water consumption over the last decade by 73% through the 100% Re-Aqua initiative. The 100% Re-Aqua initiative part of their Ceytea Factory deals withreusing water. Unilever has decreased their yearly water consumption by135,400 cubic metres (approximately 135 million litres). This is equivalent to the amount of water used by 1,100 Sri Lankan households annually.
Exports Training
On the 3rd of May, the Colombo School of Business Management (CSBM) signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Institute of Exports (NIOE), the educational division of the National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCESL). Under this new agreement, CBSM will teach programs previously developed and taught by the NIOE. The first program to be taught under this partnership will be a Diploma in International Trade Management. It was developed with the assistance of experienced specialists of the international trading industry and will be taught by industry professionals. Many field visits are included to give students a holistic understanding of the industry. The NCESL when talking about this initiative pointed out that export managers currently are primarily self-made with only some recognition unlike managers in other professions.
Discovery of an Undisturbed Coral Reef
The Sri Lanka Navyrevealed that they discovered an undisturbed coral reef on the 7th of May. This reef is located in Sri Lanka’s Eastern coastline, being placed 1.5 to 4.5 metres below the sea surface. The reef spreadsover 500 by 500 metres, giving an area of 25 hectares which is a quarter of a square kilometre. The Navychose not to reveal the specific location of the reef as they are concerned that several visits to the reef may threaten its safety. This is important to Sri Lanka’s ocean, especially after the X-Press Pearl environmental disaster.
Rubber
On the 16th of May, Dr. L.M.K. Tillekeratne, former head of the Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka (RRISL) wrote an article “Improved rubber prices should see increase in production” in the Sunday Times where he pointed out that rubber production in Sri Lanka has unfortunately been declining. He mentioned that one of the main reasons for this decline is the low rubber prices in the world market which in recent years was usually below the production cost. There is a need to increase production of raw rubber and use them to make value-added products such as examination gloves that are in big demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Tillekeratne mentioned that there is currently a massive demand for rubber showing a significant increase in rubber prices that will last for more months if not years. Rubber farmers have the opportunity to apply agricultural methods recommended by the RRISL mentioned in the article to take advantage of the higher prices. Doing this will likely lead to improved annual rubber yields in kilograms per hectare. This month, a Sri Lankan rubber and tea plantation company Kelani Valley Plantations PLC (KVPL) received aSustainability Framework Certificate. The natural rubber sector has issues of deforestation and this certification signifies KNPL is involved in sustainable rubber production.
Reforestation
The John Keells Foundation, the charitable division of the John Keells Group announced early this month theirthree year collaboration with non-governmental organisation (NGO) Ruk Rakagano (The Tree Society of Sri Lanka) inreforesting 20 hectares of forest land. The reforestation is for the Suduwalipotha Forest in the Kalawana Range. This project will plant at least 13,000 trees in its first year which will be maintained for the remainder of the three years. Native vegetation will be planted in this land with the intention to transform it into a similar environment to that of the Sinharaja Forest which it is located next to.
MSMEs
This month it was reported that the Sri Lankan organisation Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Industries (COSMI)signed an agreement with the European Association for Trade - Crafts - Industries (EIVHGI) in Vienna, Austria. This agreement is to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in South Asia and to promote business partnerships between the two regions. Sri Lankan MSMEs have the opportunities to benefit from it. Sri Lankan MSMEs can make progress in post-COVID industry development through it as it includes knowledge transfer of trade, craft and industry from Europe.
These are a selection of positive stories from Sri Lanka so far this year. Similar to how those responsible for these stories used their knowledge and skills, I hope others will use their skills to work on the immediate problems facing Sri Lanka as well as long term issues that stem from Sri Lanka’s status as a developing country. Let’s work towards a better Sri Lanka.
