Move to improve IT proficiency:

Microsoft Lanka to donate software worth Rs. 5 billion

by Omar RAJARATHNAM

Microsoft Sri Lanka will donate software worth Rs 5 billion over the next three years to improve Information Communications Technology (ICT) and continue to work with the Ministry of Education to ensure that schoolchildren are given access to new software, Country Manager for Microsoft Sriyan De Silva Wijeyeratne told a media briefing at the Cinnamon Lakeside on Thursday to mark the seventh year anniversary celebrations of Microsoft Sri Lanka, aptly titled ‘Significant Seven’.

Akthar Ahmed

Microsoft’s President for new emerging markets Akthar Ahmed, Vice President for Public Sector (Asia) Ken Wye Saw and Director OEM Poojitha Rajapakse were also present.

Sriyan De Silva Wijeyeratne who read out President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s felicitation message for Microsoft, thanked all stakeholders of the business who supported the seven-year journey and said, the Gamata IT initiative has been a tremendous success.

Akthar Ahmed told the Sunday Observer that Sri Lanka’s intellectual capacity and high literacy rates were among the main determinants for Microsoft to set up operations in Sri Lanka and that Sri Lanka’s professional maturity was of a commendable level.

The emergence of Asia as a focal point for trading has put Sri Lanka in a very poised position for investors and look forward to working with the Government NGOs and educational institutes to improve IT proficiency of the people, he said.

“We are already in the process of creating an IT awareness and delivering IT training to the masses. We are not involved directly in outsourcing activities at present but we are working with universities to identify potential software developers so that they can be trained to take up jobs in outsourcing organisations.

This will increase their competitiveness as a result of which the National competitiveness will improve making Sri Lanka more attractive for trade and employment”, he said.

“The Rs. 5 billion donation was not just a return on investment calculation - we are a commercial entity but we are also keen on uplifting the standards of IT literacy in rural areas in the country and we will continue to invest heavily on projects that will help us achieve our objectives.

We would be unable to improve IT proficiency in the country if donations of this scale are not made.

We are glad to have pioneered in such initiatives which gives everyone an opportunity to have access to IT”, he said.Sri Lanka has a stronghold compared to other countries that belong to new emerging markets, said Ahmed.

“The level of spoken English in the country is very impressive and it produces a large number of engineers. These are indicators that the country is heading in the right direction to make its own mark in the global markets. After the conflict, there is stability in the country and this has attracted many investors. Hence Sri Lanka’s unique value proposition to the global economy has improved remarkably”, he said.

Amidst all this success, we still face challenges, the intricate business we are involved in demands the need for enforcement through copyright laws to protect intellectual property, he said.

“We have already begun looking at strategies we can devise to reduce piracy in terms of the software used. It is a very difficult task and it requires the involvement of many stakeholders to implement stringent compliance to anti-piracy laws.

It is not about penalising those who perpetrate it, but it is about creating an awareness that piracy should not be encouraged because unlawful interference with intellectual property is unnecessary and punishable by law. It is a very far fetched goal, but we will get there someday with the commitment of all our stakeholders, he said.