SLASSCOM Digital IT/BPM Week paves way for building future leaders

Key organising team of the SLASSCOM IT/BPM Week

Carrying out their remit of developing Sri Lanka’s IT/BPM industry to an export centric sector generating $ 5 billion in export revenue and FDI, creating 200,000 jobs and 1,000 start-ups by 2025, the Sri Lanka Association of Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM) enriched the prospective IT/BPM professionals by organising SLASSCOM Digital IT/BPM Week for the second consecutive year.

Building on the launch of the industry’s national brand as the Island of Ingenuity, the SLASSCOM Digital IT/BPM Week provided a platform that created awareness on the opportunities available in the industry and to encourage more tech professionals, start-ups, and entrepreneurs. The program provided information on how to obtain IT education, how to be ready to face the challenges of the industry as a professional and to flourish as start-ups gaining global recognition.

The event was recently carried out over 10 online sessions, spanning five days, attracting over 500 participants for each session from each of the nine provinces of the country. The attendees of the event comprised of a combination of school students, parents, university students, job seekers, young IT professionals, IT educators, entrepreneurs, start-ups, as well as key personnel from established IT/BPM companies of the country.  This year, the Digital IT/BPM week was carried out under the tagline ‘Sri Lanka’s largest gathering of IT and BPM professionals and enthusiasts for jobs and knowledge sharing’. 

SLASSCOM Vice Chairman Aashique M. Ali said that as the industry grows and expands, the IT/BPM industry will need more and more talent, creating many opportunities to anyone looking to join the industry. 

“Having conducted IT/BPM week, we see a growing interest from young people and parents towards planning a career in the tech industry. This year, we hope to build on the success we had last year and explore even more areas of the industry, shining a spotlight on the discussions on women in technology, diversity and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors,” he added.

SLASSCOM Regional Forum Head and Board Director Dilan Rajapakse said: “Every era has a defining profession or a defining industry that everyone wants to be part of. In our era, that industry is technology. 

“As more and more people flock to this industry, we at SLASSCOM want to ensure that every professional within our country is given the opportunity to be informed about how to navigate the waters of tech successfully, as we gather corporate partners and sponsors, and we look forward to inspiring our tech leaders of tomorrow.”

Nirmal Marasinghe, the Coordinator of Uva Startup Hub, one of the many Regional Hubs which actively collaborates with the initiatives of SLASSCOM, added: “Although, the IT and BPM industries were Colombo centric since its inception, some of the iconic companies incubated in regions have proven that tech businesses can be sustained throughout the country. 

“As regional tech enabling chambers, Uva Startup Hub, together with other regional hubs readily collaborate with SLASSCOM to drive the national goals focusing on strengthening regional events such as the IT/BPM Week 2021.”

SLASSCOM in this initiative has partnered with the Information and Communication Technology Agency, Export Development Board, Norwegian Embassy, Northern Chamber of Information Technology, Uva Startup Hub, Sabaragamuwa Startup Hub, Central Startup Hub and the Central Federation for the Deaf. 

The event was further supported by Codegen, Daraz and RRD as the Platinum Sponsors, while Axiata Digital Labs, Camms, Innodata, CIMA and JIT are the Gold Sponsors with SLIIT and GrubTech being the Silver Sponsors.