Sri Lanka must build on its image

By Rohantha Athukorala

What Sri Lanka needs is a consistent foreign and economic diplomacy than spikes that hit the brand image, was the consensus view at a key chamber meeting.

But for this to happen we must be conscious of the way the outside world perceives us, was the view of the branding champions at the forum.

I recall the words of the nation-branding guru Simon Anholt, who has advised over 59 global leaders on building the image of the nation. "Your reputation as a country is what you earn over time. You cannot just fabricate it with advertisements and promises that the country does not live up to."

Perception

The ninth LTTE air attack in the Colombo ended with an LTTE aircraft crashing into a building next to a prominent five-star hotel.

Even after repeated attacks by the LTTE in the city and the outfit being responsible for wiping away over US $200 billion from the Sri Lankan economy, the world perception today is that they were freedom fighters and we are being questioned on war crimes which is the duplicity of the world driven more on the power of perception than reality.

In 1983, Sri Lanka attracted 338,000 tourists to the country and in 2008 after 25 years, was struggling to attract 438,000 odd visitors, while countries such as Cambodia which had 200,000 visitors in 1983 were touching almost a two million tourists in 2008. What better reality check does Sri Lanka need?

The loss in value terms accounts for over a US $6 billion which is the reality. Today, the same industry attracts almost US $ 2 billion and 1.2 million visitors with top global brands like Shangri-La, Movenpick, Hyatt, ITC, Shinagawa and Avani setting up business in our land.

The power of perception is stronger than reality as per the global academics Shifman and Kannuk.

Economic upturn

COFARCE, the French trade organisation, has ranked Sri Lanka to be the next best growth economy after China in the Asian region, while the World Bank and the ADB has pegged the economy to grow at around 6-7 percent of GDP.

But the best case in point of the Sri Lanka economy is that mobile phone use which was 2.2 million in 2004, today stands at 20.3 million, indicating the increased awareness on decision-making that takes place.

It also indicates the connectivity that a Sri Lankan has with the outside world with platforms such as Facebook or website access. The number of private radio channels has increased from six in 2004 to 35, while the number of TV channels have increased to 18. These are indicators of the overall quality of life of a Sri Lankan.

The vehicle stock has increased from 2.3 million to 5.2 million which reflects the standard of life that is sweeping in even though the challenge on the purse is high.

In the past four years there were a number of new entrepreneurs, but credit consumption going down in the private sector is a problem that needs to be addressed.

The best news for the Sri Lanka tea industry was the one-to-one matching funding on the Rs 6 billion marketing budget of the Sri Lanka Tea Board.

What is needed now is execution of the gold standard. Every 15 years we loose the top 10 markets that Ceylon Tea operates in.

This does not augur well for an industry which was awarded the 'Ethically Manufactured' tag, the first in the world and the industry standard globally for tea. However, it will register a US $ 2 billion income soon.

The cynosure of all eyes is on the new IT-BPO industry which is now ranked as a top-ten global service provider by AT Kearney for 2014.

This business needs a strong branding exercise, but the good news is that it will be a $1 billion industry in the near future. Some of the best names of the business world are getting into the fray with organisations such as CGM, a top freight liner setting up the back end office in Sri Lanka in partnership with Hayleys.

The launch of the Atchchuveli industrial zone was a big win for the people of Jaffna as it is the first industrial zone to be set up in Northern Province after the end of terrorism. The challenge is to attract big business.

If we can make this the first green industrial estate in Sri Lanka and house around 2,000 people from Jaffna, we will be happy.

Giving Index

At the Rotary New Generation Seminar recently, the Governor for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, said that Sri Lanka was ranked number10 in the World Giving Index with 92% of Sri Lankans directly or indirectly being part of volunteerism which explains the unique culture of Sri Lanka.

According to a customer satisfaction survey of tourists coming to Sri Lanka, over 85% want to come back. This is testimony to the strong branding tourists are exposed to when experiencing our culture.

But incidents like what allegedly took place in New York and the subsequent viral media that caught the attention of the world, does not add value to Brand Sri Lanka.

Financial sector

With all these issues, Sri Lanka continues to baffle the top economists of the world by growing at 5-7% year-on-year, driven by the private sector and strong policy reforms supporting this agenda.

The latest positive news is the financial consolidation which is almost complete with only a handful of marriages to be signed. This again demonstrates strong the leadership that Sri Lanka has and needs to be supported for greater reforms.

It is time that we learn to work in line with our conscience. This is nothing to do with religion but being patriotic and progressive than letting our emotions lead to negative media.

As Simon Anohole the nation branding expert said, "Your reputation as a country is what you earn over time. You cannot just fabricate it with advertising and promises that the country does not live up to."

This includes the quality of not forgetting to acknowledge the people who have contributed to the growth of this country.

Dr. P.B. Jayasundera has helped so many sectors to move into a new growth path and who sometimes gets attacked by politicians in the Government and Opposition. It's time that we learn to be more conscious of our thoughts.

With the economy now closing in on a revenue of US $100 billion and export revenue also coming close to US $15 billion, we have an opportunity to develop a new position for Sri Lanka. But this can happen only if we believe and value 'Brand Sri Lanka' and this is in our hands.

We can either make the best of this golden opportunity or lose it. It's our choice.

The writer is the Country Director-Asia Pacific of a US-based investment firm.