Digitalisation has been used as a metric to measure Sri Lanka’s futuristic development. In fact, Sri Lanka’s Government has made digitalisation a national priority, with plans for Sri Lanka to undergo a comprehensive digital transformation within the next three years.
With a National Digital Strategy in place for 2030 to improve the country’s economic competitiveness, public service and employment generation, and promote sustainability, why did it take so long for Sri Lanka to jump on the tech bandwagon?
‘Kaleidoscope’ caught up with MiHCM Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Harsha Purasinghe to discuss Sri Lanka’s digital future and current digital wellbeing. With three decades of experience and several tech ventures and products to his name, Purasinghe shared multi-dimensional insights on Sri Lanka’s digitalisation journey for a tech-enabled Sri Lanka.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
What are you seeing of Sri Lanka’s tech space?
Sri Lanka has just emerged from an economic collapse and what I see right now is that companies are building their momentum. I can see that given the stability in the political ecosystem, a very strong, thriving tech ecosystem is emerging.
Right now, there are a lot of startups emerging in sectors that we never envisioned, like agri-tech. I have had the pleasure of witnessing some of the latest agri-tech startups in Sri Lanka recently. Also, if you look at mature startups, they are going in for initial public offerings (IPOs) – that’s a phenomenal benchmark or a milestone for the Sri Lankan tech landscape, to see a gigantic IPO.
On the global front, we see lots of Sri Lankan companies making waves in the global arena. So, given the stability in macroeconomic conditions, I see a very thriving, positive tech ecosystem emerging now.
Given the current scenario, what can we capitalise on and what stops us from doing so?
If you really look at one of the driving forces behind the tech sector, it has been our talent pool. Continuously, Sri Lanka has been producing fantastic talent. That’s something that we need to capitalise on. Also, our geographic location is highly advantageous. We can use Sri Lanka as a hub for digital service innovation.
On the other side of the coin, what’s stopping us is the fact that every now and then, we get hit with some incident. From 2019 onwards, Sri Lanka has faced various issues. We just came out of a civil war and then faced multiple catastrophes, one after the other. But, that instability is what caused our tech industry to flourish; however now, we can hope for a stable economic and political situation, which can take the industry further. I am very optimistic that we can see a brighter future for our industry.
What are the main initiatives that Sri Lanka can implement to put us on par with the rest of the world?
One of the things that Sri Lanka must do is continuously invest in digital infrastructure. We need to create a broad-based, wide adoption of broadband and make it inclusive and cost-effective. We need to continue to invest in that.
We also need to invest in digital public infrastructure. There are interesting initiatives like digital identification that we need to establish in Sri Lanka. These will unleash lots of innovation in digital services from the Government and the private sector and in terms of citizens’ participation as a whole.
We must enact some of the Bills, like the Cyber Security Bill, along with the enforcement of the Personal Data Protection Act, No. 9 of 2022; they need to be implemented as planned.
Finally, we need to set up a National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy and make sure that AI will be part of our overall regional economic growth in the future.
Where do we stand as a country in terms of innovation and in also developing and adopting the latest technology?
Sri Lanka always had very innovative companies, but these are ad hoc cases. We have one or two companies making splashes here and there globally, but what is not there is scale and consistency. Given the conditions now, I hope that we will have more global cases emerging out of Sri Lanka.
In the course of last year, we’ve seen some companies like WSO2 making splashes globally, placing Sri Lanka on the global map. Also, there are companies moving from traditional software to electric vehicle manufacturing – from electric vehicles and tuk-tuks to supercars. These are fantastic examples of things that will put Sri Lanka on the global map, but we need to do these things together.
Given that Sri Lanka is on a digitalisation path, what are we going to see in the future?
I foresee digital payments taking off, and hopefully, we will see our citizens transitioning into a digitally literate population. They will start engaging with various public services and private services digitally. We have some interesting plans in place to enable this dynamic transition to a digital economy.
I also see, from an industry point of view, Sri Lanka being able to position ourselves as a place for digital services innovation in Asia, given our strategic location.
You are an entrepreneur in the human resource (HR) tech space. Why should companies move into HR tech systems, especially cloud-based HR systems?
Now, it’s a no-brainer. If you want to be competitive in this world, you have to make sure that you invest in people and focus on your core business. To do that, companies need to embrace HR-based technology. This will actually reduce all the manual work, reduce manual errors, drastically reduce costs, and also make companies 100% compliant. It’s not only about the system; it’s about complying with all government regulations and statutory directives.
Most importantly, how do you harness the value of your workforce and talent data to make strategic decisions and focus on your core business? That’s what HR tech or cloud tech will help you to unleash.
It’s ultimately about investing in the people and the people’s experience. That’s what HR-based tech brings. This is one of the fundamental reasons that companies need to transition. There’s no way that you can do these things manually anymore.
In an era where AI is going to take off, companies need to rewire themselves. All companies – small and medium to large – and even governments, need to embrace technology to manage their workforce.
When it comes to tech adoption in the workplace, how has Sri Lanka fared? What more can be done?
Sri Lankan corporates are second to none if you look at the regional sectors in which I operate. Sri Lankan corporates have invested tremendously in digital transformation, and they continue to invest in it. However, what I would like to see happening is more investment towards harnessing the power of data and analytics, to use data as a driver for their business growth, which is key in this new era of AI.
For Sri Lankan corporates and the business landscape to transition into AI, it’s very important that Sri Lankan corporates start leveraging their data and have a data-related strategy. Corporates can invest more and have a strategy in place.
As an entrepreneur and innovator, what is your advice for developing a culture of a better environment for innovation and entrepreneurship here in Sri Lanka?
The first thing, from a Sri Lankan point of view, is the stability in the country. We need to have a stable country. Then, we need to celebrate the culture of entrepreneurship. We are a country which faces lots of challenges every day.
When you see problems and challenges, that’s where entrepreneurship can thrive, because entrepreneurship emerges when you see problems in the world. We are very well placed for that because we have problems in Sri Lanka, but we need to really celebrate that culture of problem-solving and eliminate this fear of failure.
If somebody fails trying to solve a problem, you should not ridicule them in society; you need to celebrate that while this person failed, they’re at least trying to solve a problem and moving on to a better solution. That is key to having this sort of entrepreneurship culture in Sri Lanka.
The other thing is exposure. Sri Lankans need more global exposure and access to mentoring. I think that mentoring, access to incubation and acceleration platforms, and access to investment, combined with that time when the right seed is in place, will make all the difference.
Your company began as a schoolboy’s dream and now MiHCM is present in over 20 countries. What are the main factors that enabled this kind of growth?
It was a decision we took seven years ago to transition from a lifestyle company to a global HR company and that started by dreaming big. We need to have big dreams. Even though we are from a very small country and literally unknown in the digital landscape in a global context, we need to think big and then have a very focused strategy and execution. MiHCM has done that and there are several other companies which have shown by example that this is not impossible.
So, dreaming big and focusing on the outcome while believing in yourself is key. That’s what has happened so far in our journey, and we are still on this journey which is never-ending. The journey is the reward.
What is your vision for a tech-enabled Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka has always had a very literate population, but now, I want to see all our citizens digitally literate in the future and set an example to the whole world. The Sri Lankan digital literacy rate could also be over 90%, like our literacy rate, which we continue to talk about.
Then, I would like Sri Lanka to become a centre for digital services innovation, intellectual property innovation, and product innovation. I want globally notable products to be built in this country.
I would like to see our traditional industries transitioning with digital technology to become more competitive and more relevant to the global competitive landscape.
In a nutshell, I would like to envision Sri Lanka starting to embrace a digital economy and that economy becoming a key driver for gross domestic product growth.
(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media)
(Source: This interview was published in The Daily Morning newspaper of 20 January 2025 and can be seen here)
