‘PinTheBiz’ from Softlogic Life to promote Sri Lanka’s struggling small businesses

Using an innovative approach to support small businesses around the country, Sri Lanka’s fastest growing life insurance provider Softlogic Life, has launched a disruptive thought-provoking campaign, ‘PinTheBiz’. The campaign encapsulates Softlogic Life’s deep commitment to enhance the wellbeing and quality of life of all Sri Lankans by embracing and utilising technology to innovate disruptive solutions.

‘PinTheBiz’ calls upon the support and cooperation of all Sri Lankans to help promote small businesses that they patronize, by spreading the word and recommending goods or services that they have consumed and sharing positive feedback. 

All they have to do is to visit ‘PinTheBiz.lk’ and submit the pin location/address, shop category, shop name and a contact number of businesses of their choice. Users can also submit entries by sending an SMS with the text ‘SME’ to 1312, to receive a text message with a link to the PinTheBiz website. 

If an individual does not own a smartphone, they also have the alternative option of sending their submissions via an SMS to 1312, with the text ‘HELP’, upon which they will be contacted via telephone by a support center representative. All entries that are submitted will be tagged by PinTheBiz and mapped on Google Maps.

These business listings will then be accessible to the public by Googling the phrase ‘PinTheBiz shops near me’ to receive a curated list of shops in their near vicinity. The initiative hopefully will drive more customers to these small businesses and is expected to spur a strong spirit of community, where every purchase made will support the livelihoods of millions of our own country’s people. 

The highly engaging initiative comes at a time of a global pandemic that has deeply impacted over a million local SMEs and in turn the livelihoods of a massive proportion of individuals and families in the country.

“Small businesses are at the heart of our communities and the key to millions of jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately had a crippling effect on the country’s economy, in particular SMEs. The proposition of PinTheBiz is to put our best foot forward to inspire all Sri Lankans to help those who are trying hard and support their local businesses at a time when they need it the most,” Softlogic Life Managing Director Iftikar Ahamed stated.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) make up a significant part of Sri Lanka’s economy, with over one million SMEs accounting for approximately 75% of all businesses. These are found in all sectors of the economy and are estimated to contribute about 45 percent of total employment in Sri Lanka.  

“SMEs are the backbone of the economy in terms of business potential, sustainable growth, employment, and technological innovation. They contribute nearly 45% of total employment opportunities to the country. It is imperative to do our utmost to support these resilient entrepreneurs to continue their operations and maintain livelihoods as well. As always, Softlogic Life continues to leverage the power of technology to accelerate growth and fuel innovation in our journey towards enhancing the quality of life for all Sri Lankan’s. Therefore, the ‘PinTheBiz’ campaign will provide a platform for people to not only engage with us but to actively be part of this cause,” Ahamed continued.

According to a recent report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the COVID-19 pandemic left a massive two-thirds of SMEs in the country reporting a decrease in demand for their products or services, while almost three-quarters reported decreased sales, with companies in the agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors hit the hardest, followed by the services sector. Eight out of ten SMEs experienced difficulties meeting operating expenses and had some shortfall in debt repayment or ability to meet financial obligations due to COVID-19.  

As Sri Lanka’s fastest-growing life insurer, Softlogic Life is known to have led many industry-first initiatives through a blend of creativity and disruptive innovation such as one day claims settlement, worldwide cashless hospital settlement product integrating more than 60 local hospitals, offering Life insurance via mobile through a partnership with Dialog Axiata PLC a completely paperless digital underwriting solution, and a bundle of digital first initiatives to elevate the standards of Sri Lanka by bringing together world-class solutions that improve the experience of insurance for our customers . 

The company’s unwavering commitment to the Sri Lankan people has seen it reach over a million Sri Lankan lives insured through an exceptional portfolio of innovative life insurance solutions at the right time and the right place where people needed them the most. Their latest initiative is testament to Softlogic Life’s commitment to enhance the lives of all Sri Lankans, by fostering indelible growth and economic resilience within the nation.