EFC joins the WorkInSriLanka brain gain initiative
Monday, 21 October 2013 00:01
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In its continuing efforts to encourage Sri Lanka to be a destination of choice for business, the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) joins forces with WorkInSriLanka to improve Sri Lanka’s knowledge and human capital pool.
With a continually growing membership of over 580 organisations, The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon is well aware of the increasingly difficult task many companies have in finding and retaining top talent in Sri Lanka.
Director General, Ravi Peiris is very vocal about the subject, “Sri Lanka needs knowledge workers. It is time that we move out from marketing ‘cheap labour’ and penetrate into the knowledge economy aggressively,” he said last Wednesday as he prepared to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SL2College Chairman, Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarna who is a key member of the WorkInSriLanka team.
SL2College is a voluntary non-profit organisation that aims to improve Sri Lanka’s knowledge and human capital pool by developing and retaining highly educated individuals. As part of this objective, SL2College has launched, ‘WorkInSriLanka’, a ‘brain gain’ initiative designed to showcase Sri Lanka as an attractive destination for professionals and businesses.
WorkInSriLanka’s Program Director, Sharon Amerasinghe explained that one of the key objectives of the brain gain initiative was to provide information through their web portal (workinsrilanka.lk) to Sri Lankans living abroad and looking to relocate back to the country. The initiative will also provide a network and links to key industry bodies that are attempting to source high calibre talent. Through such partnerships, WorkInSriLanka looks to become a key advocacy organisation working with the government and other bodies to improve the attractiveness of Sri Lanka as a relocation destination. The WorkInSriLanka web portal which was launched in May this year showcases Sri Lanka as a preferred investment destination for high value industries looking to harness economic resources elsewhere in the world.
As the EFC is already a strong industry lobbyist that represents the interests of its member organisations to government, it makes perfect sense for the WorkInSriLanka project to have the Federation on board.
Commenting on the initiative, Director General Ravi Peiris said, “We need talent. We need people with the right skills and attitudes. Therefore, we need to encourage every Sri Lankan who has the necessary knowledge, skills and attitude to join the Sri Lankan workforce.”
