SLASSCOM appoints new Board

Friday, 5 September 2014 00:50 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SLASSCOM, the IT-BPM and knowledge services industry chamber which plays a catalyst role with aggressive plans to capitalise the opportunities for Sri Lanka in 2014/2015, has elected its sixth Board and General Council consisting of key industry leaders and decision makers to drive this year’s vision. New additions to the Board includes an eclectic mix of youth and experience with the industry veteran and Managing Director of Hayleys Industrial Solutions, Director of Hayleys BPO & Shared Services Dr. Arul Sivagananathan coming in as Vice Chairman while up and coming industry figures such as Mohan Fernando -Country Head of Firstsource, Dialog Solutions Ltd., Dr. Sankalpa Gamwarige – General Manager/Vice President of Engineering, Zone 24x7 and Ranil Rajapakse – Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, IFS R&D International Ltd. coming in as new Directors. Laying out his vision for the coming year and recapping the achievements of the past few years newly-elected Chairman of SLASSCOM and President/CEO IFS Sri Lanka, Jayantha De Silva stated: “As an industry, we made significant progress over the last five years. Our export revenue grew from $ 213 m in 2007 to an estimated $ 720 m in 2014 (238%). Total employment grew from 33,000 in 2007 to an estimated 75,100 employees in 2014 (123%) and the number of companies in the industry grew from 170 in 2007 to over 225 in 2014. This is a tremendous growth from any stretch of imagination and is a result of a concerted effort from industry, academia, government and many other stakeholders. “During the last five years, our global brand position improved significantly. AT Kearney ranked Sri Lanka among the top 25 in their global ranking in the last three consecutive rankings. Gartner ranked Sri Lanka among its top 30 global locations. IBM, Tholons and several others ranked Sri Lanka at the top of their respective leader boards. Sri Lanka has been awarded the prestigious ‘Offshoring Destination of the Year 2013’ award by the National Outsourcing Association (NOA), UK. “We witnessed the emergence of a vibrant startup eco system with several angel funding initiatives and major mentor network led by SLASSCOM member companies. We witnessed a marked increase in new tech ventures starting up. As we look back, it’s clear that our billion dollar shared aspiration helped to catalyse all the stakeholders to achieve this tremendous growth. It helped to create a network of collaborators and build an energetic team at SLASSCOM. “As we look forward, for the SLASSCOM’s Vision 2022, we see tremendous opportunity to achieve $5 billion revenue, create 200,000 direct jobs and 1,000 startups. This will enable Sri Lanka to move up from the middle income bracket. We feel very optimistic about our ability to embark on the next big wave of growth.”