Changing face of brand Sri Lanka

by Rohantha ATHUKORALA

Having been involved actively in the past seven years of Sri Lanka’s economic development agenda, the past two years in particular has been dramatic in nature. The private sector thinking has now come into the public sector which is interesting but needs to be carefully managed so that we do not lose the democratic spirit of Brand Sri Lanka.

But we must be mature to accept that South Asia is dogged by the political economy at play and the challenge is work around it with purposeful engagement, than complaining is my view.

The Commonwealth bid

While many can argue that hosting the Commonwealth Games does not make financial health given that the 2012 provisional budget estimate that is coming out is at a gap of over a trillion rupees, I feel that sometimes entrepreneurial ventures must be taken just like what Malaysia did on the same agenda.

What I like in particular was the visionary community that emerged like the SriLankan Airlines crew wearing the “Hambantota 2018” badge in their daily work and how the private sector decided to be part of the campaign bid. But a point that we need to keep in mind is that 43 countries in the world decided not to support us in our dream and we must find out why and how it can be corrected so that we can purposefully contribute to the changing face of Brand Sri Lanka.

Private sector

From a private sector perspective we see how the change in face of the corporate world is taking form with new players coming to play like Softlogic, LOLC, Access and may be Laughs making the traditional companies look old fashioned and out of fashion which is very interesting.

Some years ago when I was working for a multinational and required frequent travel to India I saw this same emerging that ultimately led to these traditional companies head hunting for young talent that can bring the contemporary touch into these established companies that ultimately resulted in a war for talent in India Inc.

I guess this will happen in Sri Lanka too in the near future. I already see this in the tourism industry which I guess is the changing face of Brand Sri Lanka.

Publc sector

By way of the Bill that was passed last week, we see the gradual inroads of government into the private sector domain. This is an interesting development given that it was done with protests from the private sector that commands 70% plus of the GDP of Sri Lanka.

But a point to note is that the government has been successful in managing the Lanka Hospital take over, Shell to Litro, Seylan Bank post the financial fallout of Kotalawela whilst People’s Bank was voted in by the people of Sri Lanka as their favourite bank at the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing people’s Awards 2011 which is another changing face of Brand Sri Lanka.

But, let’s accept it that the public sector has not been successful in running private enterprises anywhere in the world given the architecture working.

Hence, we need to be careful on this new development and the business Chambers have a big role to play to make sure that Sri Lanka does not take this route especially given that we are planning to attract a 1.5 billion dollars as FDIs in 2012.

I guess the world will be watching how Sri Lanka’s change of face takes shape on this criteria especially if the clause of ‘Nationalization will not be implemented has been taken off the BOI website as per last week.

Family

Whilst these macro changes are coming into play in Brand Sri Lanka, it’s strange but the 2009/10 Household income expenditure survey done by the Department of Census and Statistics reveal some staggering insights. There are apparently 10.7 million females in Sri Lanka and only 9.7 million males which mean that almost a million more females whilst there are 23% of households that are headed by females. If this is because of terrorism war or was it natural is the million dollar question.

The importance of the data is that the products and services that this 23% of families consume can be different.

To be specific the car they buy, the place they will like to reside as well as the overall culture of the family can have an impact. I am wondering if the insight has something to do with the migrant community of Sri Lanka that brings in almost four billion dollars into Sri Lanka but be that as it may it is a change of face of Brand Sri Lanka.

Fourteen percent savings

The report also goes on to state that the mean household income per month stands at Rs.36,451 with the Urban income at Rs. 47,783, Estate sector at Rs. 24,162 whilst the rural mean income coming out at rupees 35,228.

The significance of these numbers is that the average expenditure accounts for almost 86% of the income leaving just 14% for savings which is quite low given that there are two people bringing in money to a home (two wage earners).

A point to note is that this cuts across the urban, rural and estate sector alike which to my mind is another changing face of Brand Sri Lanka.

Consumption

Again, a changing face of Brand Sri Lanka we see that the consumption paterns in a thirty-year window have also drastically changed in the country.

The consumption of starch such as rice, wheat flour and bread has dropped quite substantially but the consumption of eggs and sugar has increased which is interesting given that the average family size has come down by 1 person.

Place to live

The best places to live based on the income potential are Colombo, Gampaha, Ratnapura but at 4th place is Vavuniya which is strange and needs a further validation. Could this be due to the increase INGOs in 2009 and 2010 in this area given the IDPs that existed? But this data sure talk of the changing face of Brand Sri Lanka. Incidentally, Hambantota comes in at 7th place with a mean income of Rs.36,879.

Whilst we see many changes on the landscape of Sri Lanka, may be the census that will be done in 2011/12 will bring out a better understanding of Brand Sri Lanka.

But we need to watch the development that will take place due to the large amount of tourism projects that will be open for business in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka in 2012 and the opening of the Southern Highway later on this year. But the fact is that the face of Brand Sri Lanka is fast appearing and we in business must adjust.

The author is a corporate personality, Business speaker and policymaker in Sri Lanka. The thoughts expressed are the author’s ideas, and does not reflect the offices he holds in Sri Lanka or internationally.