"The 10 Most Admired Companies in Sri Lanka 2018"

December 2018

T H E

M O S T

10 ADMIRED COMPANIES IN SRI LANKA 2018

Editorial Desk Changing Business Landscape with E-Commerce

Business Talk Bussiness With Sri Lanka

Omobio Pioneering Telecom Sector with Digital and Smart Solutions

Eranga Weeraratne CEO

Editorial

B

e it any country, science and technology base will generate new inventions which are the seeds for future economic growth. However, inventions alone are not sufficient for a country to move forward. The Austrian-American economist, Joseph Schumpeter, in his 1911 book “The Theory of Economic Development”, defined a fine difference between invention and innovation. Invention is a creation of a new idea, product or service. It is the people with brain power who would do so by getting continuously engaged in research and development. Thus, the scientific research is the base of new inventions.

But, only inventions will not help a country for its growth. Inventions and innovations should go hand in hand. Inventions are done by scientists, just because they are the products of scientific research. As a result, scientific researchers are creating new technology. Hence, science, technology and innovation are three brothers who cannot be separated from each other.

Amalgamation of Science, Technology & Innovation for Business Excellence

Today the world is now moving into the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ designated Industry 4.0. The move was already started in Germany in 2011 when the German Government decided to overhaul its industry for the future by applying what is now known as ‘Internet of Things’ to all across the industries. And, thus, researchers have concluded that IoT will fix every gadget, machinery or equipment with internet sensors equipping them with capacity for Tele-operation. Thus, the future cars will be Tele-driven, washing machines Tele-operated and surgeries Tele-performed. It the time for all the countries to change its research thrust, it has to take into account the new development taking place and the challenges and promises it offers to the world.

hale Shruti Jamb Shruti P. Jambhale

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Shweta Priyadarshini Executive Editor Shruti Jambhale Contributing Editors Rahul, Sneha, Abhijeet Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Associate Designer Poonam, Shweta Art & Picture Editor Rahul Kavnekar Co-designer Deepanjali Jena Business Development Manager Akansha Garewal Marketing Manager Dhruv Apte Sales Executives Krutika , Sonica Technical Head Swapnil Patil Technical Specialist Vivek, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Prashant, Rahul SME-SMO Executives Swati, Manoj Circulation Manager Tanaji sales@insightssuccess.com

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Cover Story

08

Omobio Pioneering Telecom Sector with Digital and Smart Solutions

CXO STANDPOINT

36 COMPNY OF THE MONTH

16

Expert’s Viewpoint Will Blockchain Technology change the way we Live and Transact business?

46

Dilmah

World’s Finest Tea-maker offering a Plethora of Amazing Flavors in Tea

Entrepreneur Speak Bitcoin: The Future

CONTENTS SPECIAL PROFILE

28

INTERVIEW WITH INSIGHTS SUCCESS

20

LAN Management Development Service Managing Projects to Deliver Promises

32 Ananda Sirisena & Company

Assisting New Businesses to Take the First Few Steps

Ceffectz

Taking Development and Design to New Heights

ARTICLES

24 Editorial Desk

Changing Business Landscape with E-Commerce

40 Halal Accreditation Council

A Frontrunner in the Food & Beverage Space

42 Business Talk

Business with Sri Lanka

COMPANIES IN Sri Lanka 2018

THE

MOST ADMIRED

Overowing Business Services Grabbing the Attention

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very company wants to be the best in this business world. It is well acknowledged idea that, the entire world of business evolution stands on the point of Customer gratification.

The companies do not mandatorily have to be in public dealing to make their own brand. There are many of the brands which sell their services not directly to the customers but to the other companies to follow the B2B model.

While direct customer selling is a part of the B2C model. There are many different ways of B2B and B2C to provide the services and to satisfy the customers. That is why it is said that, any business which is not directly associated with the customers, are indirectly associated with them. A brand can offer an optimum level of services only by understanding the client’s needs and fulfilling them in the easiest manner.

This month, Insights Success has come up with topic and has dealt under the issue of “The 10 Most Admired Companies in Sri Lanka 2018”. Here we have tried to focus on the different business portfolios with unique service solutions, and Omobio (Pvt) Ltd has grabbed our attention most to become the Cover story of this magazine. This is one of the best company develops software and solutions catering to the IT industry in Sri Lanka, and developing telecommunication-based solutions for local and International mobile and fixed line operators.

We have also focused on different companies those have come up with unique solutions, as the Company of the Month- Dilmah is Sri Lankan brand tea; which produces varieties of tea by following traditional tea technique.

Apart from this, we have chosen LAN Management Development Service offers complete Project Management solutions to the corporate sector. Halal Accreditation Council (Guarantee) Limited is the only entity certifying and conducting professional and internationally accepted compliance audits for Halal standards in Sri Lanka. Ananda Sirisena & Co provides comprehensive end-to-end solutions to clients, which are not only limited to company registration documentation, processing banking requirements, obtaining business addresses and other documentation etc. Tellida is a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which manages outsourcing operations in Finance and Accounting, Legal & Contact Centre domains for clients in UK, Singapore and Australia.

ZILLIONe is aspiring to be the most preferred business partner in delivering cutting-edge information systems.

Vallibel Finance is an enterprise which leads the way in bringing to our customers innovative, value for money financial solutions. Unicorn International pursues innovative health care products - to help as many people as soon as they can. Transparency International Sri Lanka is a National Chapter of Transparency International (TI), the leading global movement against corruption. TISL raises awareness of the damaging effects of corruption and works with partners in government, business and civil society to develop and implement effective measures to tackle it.

The interview with Buwaneka Ranatunge gave his insights on his company Ceffectz, who is transforming ideas into reality.

This magazine also includes leaders’ thoughts as well. Pragun Akhil Jindal is the Indian Author, Speaker, and Entrepreneur discusses on the topic “Bitcoin: The Future” and Pradeep Valsangkar highlights his views on the “Will Blockchain Technology changes the way we Live and Transact business?”

The editor’s thoughts are also part of this magazine where they have researched on topics like Changing Business Landscape with E-Commerce and Business with Sri Lanka.

So, flip the pages of our magazine and explore interesting insights into the world of business!

Omobio

Pioneering Telecom Sector with Digital and Smart Solutions

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We are not only known for our smart products and solu ons, but also for the robust and outstanding quality

Eranga Weeraratne CEO

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his is the era, where all the telecom operators are looking to optimize their business, increase efficiency, reduce cost, provide better customer service and provide new digital services to customers.

Founded in 2011, Omobio is one of the companies at its peak with the high demand in digital services; specializing in products for telecom operators.

The company develops software and solutions catering to the IT industry in Sri Lanka. Gradually, from 2011 the company also started focusing on developing telecommunication-based solutions for local and International mobile and fixed line operators. Omobio is currently expanding and setting up software development, implementation and support centers in Bangladesh and Nepal.

The Inception Tale The company which kicked off in a single office room grew within a short period of time! By the end of a productive first year, it had already expanded into a strong twenty plus team with many successful deployments, which excited customers locally and internationally. Omobio multiplied from a four man-team to a dominant team of more than 160 skilled individuals within just seven years. The company is fully Sri Lankan owned and grew solely based on the success of its business model and dedication of the smart workforce. Currently the company serves more than thirty customers over twenty additional countries.

Eclipsing the Initial Challenges and Rising to the Occasion As a new startup in 2011, the primary challenge was to identify the right solutions to invest the majority of their time that would make the most impact in the market and yield more robust results. With this strong vision, the first few projects which were carefully thought through and implemented did transform into lasting products for the company. This was the key to establish a secure financial stream that made it possible to expand and grow their service. It made them more confident and dedicated to providing a more powerful and life-giving service to their potential customers.

Gradually working their way up, the company entered the domain of telecom core platforms, such as CDMA SMSC and SMS Firewall solutions by around 2013. The quality of work, in-depth technical knowledge, on-time delivery and the flexibility of the team were the success factors of Omobio to grow at the rate of 200–300% year-on-year.

The Journey of Zealous Entrepreneur

“Omobio has successfully deployed its agship solutions around the globe”

The company is working very closely with ICT Universities in the country and takes an active role in mentoring undergraduates by offering internships and academic projects. It has recently established its R&D center in NSBM University of Sri Lanka. This R&D center allows undergraduates to conduct their research in new technologies such as AI, ML, Big data and others.

CEO of Omobio, Eranga Weeraratne has been the visionary leader and the driving force of this organization.

After his graduation in Computer Science and Engineering field, he joined Infotech Limited as an engineer in e-Business, in the early years when the Internet business was starting to thrive. He led the development of OmniBIS, which was the first Sri Lankan portal offering free email and collaboration tools including online calendar, instant messaging, file storage, personal organizer, etc. even before Gmail and Dropbox type services were established.

One unique feature of this service was to send and receive emails via SMS. After that, he was the founding member of the team that established WaveNET; a software development company

specialized in telecom-based products and services.

WaveNET that started with only three members has now grown into a strong 120+ member team.

maintained time after time. The company firmly believes and invests heavily in R&D and even experiments with bleeding edge technologies.

In 2012 he took on the responsibilities as the CEO of Omobio Pvt. Ltd. The Omobio team under Eranga’s guidance strives as one towards making a positive impact on the world through innovation products and solutions. He has led the company towards success and won many renowned awards for the Self-Care Application, CustomerCare Application, TEAM – SMS Box platform solutions at the National Best Quality ICT Awards, and many more.

This multi awards winning company serves more than twenty plus telecom operators and service providers in more than twenty countries.

In 2013, Omobio developed the Mobile Self-Care Application, which was the first multi-lingual self-care application in Sri Lanka. This application was recognized at many International ICT and Mobile award competitions.

With the development of Mobile Self-care application suite, the company entered into the world of digitization

Apart from being the CEO/Chairman of Omobio, he has ventured in to many other industries such as a Chairman/Director of eimSky (Pvt) Ltd, Director of Textware (Pvt) Ltd, Chairman/Director of Spiceyaya (Pvt) Ltd, Chairman/Director of Spice Fortress (Pvt) Ltd and Director of E-Lottery Solutions (Pvt) Ltd. Diversified Solutions Some of the initial applications of the company were SMS and IVR based voting applications, which were successfully run by many TV channels in Sri Lanka. Another innovative solution in the initial stage of the company was the location-based applications, which were used by enterprise customers to track their sales force effectiveness. The very first transport system tracking solution was also introduced

by Omobio to follow the live locations of trains.

The company has successfully introduced many digitization products including Sales Force Automation, Digital Advertising, Customer Care, Loyalty Management and many such applications. This has assisted many telecom operators to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their sales force and services to provide a more powerful service to their customers.

Unique Endeavors Omobio is proud of their dedicated team of tech wizards, who are capable of developing cutting-edge, challenging solutions effortlessly as a by-product of brainstorming and working together as a team. They support and hold each other accountable to bring out the best results at all times. It is not only well-known for their smart products and solutions, but also for the robust and outstanding quality

solutions. During its growth-path, in 2017, the company acquired eIMsky Solutions, which is an RF-ID and IoT company. This opened up avenues to expand in to fast-growing IoT industry. eIMsky product line consists of Advance BLOQNET IOT Platform, Smart Office Suite, Smart Laundry, Asset Tracking and Vehicle Tracking solutions.

Evolving Features The strength of the company lies in the strong partnerships they have built with all their customers, including telecom operators across the globe. The partnerships with all the major telecom operators in Sri Lanka allows the company to get access to mobile networks such as SS7 signaling, 5G or NB-IoT, etc. which will help the company to experiment and develop various new products and solutions. It has

Million Dollar Advice from a CEO

obtained this level of access and trust with the telecom operators through the demonstration of technical skills and integrity through the past years.

The current focus of Omobio is mainly towards strong business relationships with telecom operators. However, the digital solutions of Omobio are similarly applicable to all other industries such as banks, insurance, logistics, etc.

Therefore, the company will diversify its marketing to other sectors within the next year.

Enlighten Activities of Omobio

New challenges will always motivate people to innovate and be creative. The company regularly brainstorms on new areas to do R&D. The best team players are selected to form a task force to come up with solutions in that domain.

The company also regularly recognizes the extra efforts taken by team members and team members who innovate/create beyond their usual routine role. This is done officially at company award ceremonies and also at monthly meetings. The company firmly believes in team spirit and environment where they can continue to learn by sharing their wins and gaps and helping each other to grow.

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‘‘ We are focused towards developing telecommunica on-based solu ons for local and Interna onal mobile and fixed line operators

“Having a clear vision, persistency and sustainability are the key factors to be successful as an entrepreneur. I have seen some entrepreneurs failing without being able to sustain their business due to over spending or not having a plan of financial requirements. Also, a new comer will have to face some hardship, may be due to the rejection by potential customers or financial constraints, etc. but they should have a good persistency to overcome such hardships to reach their goals. Finally, never get in to the trap of certain investors who will demand unfairly high stake and steal the majority ownership of your product.” –advises CEO, Eranga.

Focused Wide-Ranging Future

Sri Lanka government is planning to open the job market to Indian professionals, which will be an answer to the current shortage of ICT professional in the country. A bi-lateral FTA will help anyway to increase the business between the two countries, Sri Lanka and India. Even though the company is focusing on R&D in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Speech Recognition and Internet of Things (IoT); but they strongly believe these solutions will go hand in hand towards enhancing the features of its products and services.

“We thrived to be the No. 1 choice of any mobile operator or enterprise, in the digital service products and solution domain. These solutions will be AI and ML enabled, which will enable our customers to increasing efficiency, best decision making and reduce cost of service operations.”

–says CEO Eranga.

Thriving to be the No. 1 choice of any mobile operator or enterprise, in the digital service products and solu on domain

THE

2018

MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES IN Sri Lanka

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Have a dedicated team of tech wizards who are capable of developing cu ng edge, challenging solu ons effortlessly

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Dilmah The Inception Tale With zealous business acumen, Merrill J. Fernando is the Founder of Dilmah. He was fortunate to be offered a place amongst the first group of Ceylonese to be recruited to learn the art of tea tasting. The journey started from here. He was born into a middle-class Sri Lankan family in rural Ceylon. After completing his training in the plantations, he went to Mincing Lane, London which is the center of the world for tea. At that time, he realized the fact that Ceylon tea is the finest in the world, expensive, and the scope for this industry is huge. The years he spent learning tea, changed his life; seeing the exploitation of his country’s crop, the young tea-man, whilst yet in his twenties, resolved that he would change the tea industry. Thus, he built his own brand to deliver the best in the world with the finest quality.

Dedication at its Best!

Merrill Fernando has devoted his life to tea and after nearly four decades of struggle against vested interests, he launched his own tea brand.

‘Dilmah’–the world’s first producer- owned brand in tea, coffee or cocoa; is symbolizing hope for producers. Because of his dedication, Merrill was 16

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We commit to keeping Dilmah Tea natural, as an important element in the natural goodness that tea offers through antioxidants

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rown, handpicked and ethically made at source, Dilmah has grown from its humble origins into a global brand that is unique in its promise of unmatched freshness, provenance, flavor, and integrity. It is founded on a passionate commitment to quality and authenticity in tea. Launched in 1988, the company believes in a philosophy that goes beyond commerce in seeing ‘Business as a Matter of Human Service’. Dilmah has some of the finest tea gardens, state-of-theart tea factories, printing and packaging facilities and investments in every segment of the industry. “We care for your tea, right from the tea nursery to the teacup!”- says the founder of the company. By following traditional tea technique over centuries, it produces tea that is varied and sophisticated.

World’s Finest Tea-maker offering a Plethora of Amazing Flavors in Tea

December 2018|

Compny of the Month

Merrill J. Fernando Founder

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honored as one of the three Most Admired Leaders in Sri Lanka. He was chosen for his passionate commitment to Quality and Integrity, and for the philosophy, he established at the heart of his Dilmah Tea business of making the business a matter of human service.

Meet the CEO Merrill Fernando named his own tea brand ‘Dilmah’ –after his son’s names Dilhan and Malik, both of whom have joined their father in his mission to bring quality back to tea with ethics and integrity. The younger son, Dilhan C. Fernando is the CEO of Dilmah. His efforts have focused on bringing tea to a new generation with innovations like tea gastronomy, t- Lounges and by enhancing knowledge in tea through the ‘Dilmah School of Tea’. Dilhan also nurtures his father’s pledge to make the business a matter of human service through the work of the MJF Charitable Foundation and Dilmah Conservation.

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We have a passion for quality tea, ethics and conservation

introduce tea bags as well. “Today, Dilmah is a global brand and it is the only brand that states on each pack what is inside the tea. It is a single origin tea of a well-respected brand.” –says Merrill Fernando. “Almost nearly 99% of the airlines in Asia Pacific region carry Dilmah tea on board.

About 60% of hotels in this region carry Dilmah tea. That is a great compliment to Ceylon tea; and this all the success of Dilmah is due to the power, quality, and image of Ceylon tea.”-he added further. The firm offers a truly different experience in tea-to-tea aficionados around the world.

The Strongest Weapon Determination, commitment, dedication, and devotion are the solid objectives, which were acted as the strongest weapon for Dilmah. The firm was started from a small brand in the big world of tea. It believed on itself and stood firmly against all the negativity. Apart from everything, today, everywhere in the world, people are talking about Ceylon tea as the strongest weapon of Dilmah.

Taste, Goodness, and Purpose Ethical and Guaranteed Tea Products The Dilmah tea is grown and fully packaged in Sri Lanka itself. Produced with love and care, it was the first brand of tea packaging in Ceylon and is the first company to 18

Dilmah is a product offered with a strong passion for tea.

Besides, in tea, there is nothing more important than taste December 2018|

and quality, which comes from the expertise of tasters.

Dilmah is the only Ethical Tea, where freshness guarantees a satisfying cup, rich in healthy antioxidants.

Tea Packed at Source The only international tea brand owned by tea growers handpicked, packed and supplied directly from the origin of a fully integrated company, caring for tea from the tea nursery right to the cup. The world’s only ethically produced tea that is truly traditional and authentic and packed at origin i.e. packed at Dilmah Tea Gardens, the home of the world’s finest Ceylon tea.

Expertise in Tea The creation of brands has changed the perception of tea and almost made this beverage a commodity. Growing and selecting the finest in tea –is an art that takes years to get perfect. The Founder of Dilmah, Merrill Fernando, is one of the most experienced tea tasters in service today with 69 years in tea, and that expertise is what makes Dilmah different.

Million Dollar Advice for Millennial “Having full knowledge of the project and starting within your reach will lead you to the success. When you grow, you can think of expanding. After 5 years you will be well established.”— advises Merrill J. Fernando. “Most people fail by not properly identifying their limitations and trying to copy what others do. That is a human weakness” he added further.

Great Future Ahead The mission of the firm was to bring quality back to tea with integrity, and by God’s grace it has achieved that and demonstrated that quality and genuinely fair trade can come only from the empowerment of the producer. Merrill Fernando is expecting that his sons Dilhan and Malik will continue to focus on those same values and principles. The world has changed vastly and it is undergoing change at a pace that is unprecedented and as they look to God for wisdom, and operate with integrity and dedication to the customer, the workers, and our great tea industry, they will continue to succeed.

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Buwaneka Ranatunge Founder & CEO

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December 2018|

Ceffectz Interview with Insights success

Taking Development and Design to New Heights

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ith the mission to provide an essential range of smart business solutions for all kinds of businesses to reach the global information technology market, Buwaneka Ranatunge, the Founder & CEO started Ceffectz (Pvt) Ltd. With sheer determination and unified efforts the company has successfully created a niche in its sector. Here are some shared insightful views and highlighted the influences made by the company and exclusive services with the expertise, we bring you an exclusive interview with Buwaneka Ranatunge.

1. Brief us about the key personality (e.g.

Founder/CEO). What is the source of inspiration for your company?

Buwaneka Ranatunge, Founder & CEO of Ceffectz (Pvt) Ltd, an excellent individual who is very passionate and is always looking towards the future making the best use of every opportunity in efforts to grow and develop the company. Setting ambitious goals with a thirst to learn new things to always stay on the competitive edge, transforming ideas into reality.

Actively engages with the team to offer support whenever needed being a key reason towards achieving better results. To provide our customers with the best products to suit their changing needs is the December 2018|

constant source of inspiration which drives us to be the change we want to add to the world.

2. What are the key attributes that helped to overcome the challenges which were faced by the company during its establishment?

The optimistic mindset, confidence and determination to grow was a driving force even when we faced many hurdles throughout our journey. Every mistake or bad decision made, gave us a lesson for the future.

Challenges are part of the path, they are stepping stones which allowed us to get new experience, learn skills and help take better decisions in the future. It is the vision which inspires and motivates us to bounce back towards success.

3. What are the different products and services provided by the company, that setting it apart from its competitors?

• ParkMeApp: This is one of our most prestigious products which has won many awards over the years.

The purpose of this application is to help users find parking spaces simply, providing a hassle-free experience instead of wasting time and energy finding one spot. Parking Owners also benefited with our smart POS solution.

• PMA Meter • SMART POS (Sale Batta): This is a handheld POS device which is coupled with a mobile application which can be used for many purposes such as providing parking tickets, Courier receipts, etc.

SMART POS, being a small device, allows you to 21

perform all your retail ticketing instead of having bulky POS machines which take up space and are expensive.

• As service driven company we majorly offer our clients with Web Solution, Mobile Solutions, UI/UX Designing and Graphic Designing.

4. Brief us about the current scenario of your sector from your point of view?

Information technology is a rapidly growing sector across the globe and in local context it has been a key industry through our past decade for major infrastructure development. It’s the key point of changing the world and making manual process automated which makes humans work less. With the development of IT sector rest of the industries’ performance has increased due to higher productivity. It play a major role in any economy to achieve future goals.

5. What kind of future advancements you expect in your sector?

As professional in IT sector we are seeking more development in Internet of Thins (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence which we can introduce as future generation of ICT. To get more development any economy should move with above mention sections.

6. How do you motivate creativity and innovation in the workspace while maintaining a healthy work environment?

We always encourage new ideas, suggestions and improvements without any restrictions providing all the support needed. We pay attention to the little things that keeps our employees excited and motivated. Providing the right amount of resources, allowing the employees to face the new challenges their way without telling them what to do allows them to showcase their creativity. The team is diverse in terms of experience and skills, however each of their opinions are respected and taken into consideration. Due to the healthy work environment that has been created, the team is more goal-oriented and available to support each other even at tough times. We believe that professional success depends on personal wellbeing.

7. What are your advises for the budding entrepreneurs who are trying to embark in the same field?

have to face many challenges through your way but take these challenges as an opportunity to learn new things and gain new experiences. Always believe in your instincts and have a positive outlook on things even on bad days. You can always get advice from a mentor or anyone who has a clear understanding of your business to take better decisions with positive outcomes. Keep challenging yourself to learn more every day and invest your time to do the things you love. Always have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, build a great team consisting of individuals with great character and values.

No one succeeds overnight so give it time without rushing. Plan on ways to raise capital and spend wisely.

Most importantly, know your customers, ask them for feedback and learn from their complaints to serve them better and deliver more than expected.

8. Share with us the accomplishments and achievements of the company.

• Ceffectz won the Red Herring Top 100 Best Company in Asia in 2016.

• ParkMeApp, a highlighting product of Ceffectz has won many awards such as the ü Silver award at the 19th NBQSA 2017 in the Inclusion and Community Category, ü Winner at the E-Swabhimani 2017- Digital Social Impact Awards under the Smart Settlement and Urbanization Category.

• ParkMeApp also became the Winner at the SLT ZERO ONE AWARDS 2018 for the Best Use Of Mobile and the Second Runners up for the Best Use of Website.

• Bronze Award at the 18th NBQSA 2016 for our product, GreetlyApp in the Inclusion and Community Category.

• ParkMeApp was also selected as a finalist at the mBillionth Award 2017.

• ParkMeApp was also selected as a finalist at the APICTA Award 2017.

9. How do you see yourself and the company in the future ahead?

We expect to be a leading ICT provider in Sri Lanka as well as across the globe. With an innovative mindset we are experimenting to produce best innovations and services to the world where everyone can live happily. As a personal I hope to wider my knowledge in more Strategic Management and diversify the company into few major sectors.

The journey will not be smooth throughout, you will 22

December 2018|

Changing BUSINESS Landscape with E-COMMERCE

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oday, we live in a globally connected world. So as to grow the business or to expand the business in wide scale, we should be aware of the current trends and should keep a track on the sectors in which one wants to expand in. With no doubt, today the e-commerce sector is growing at a massive pace and evolving faster like a bullet train.

With the help of various reports and independent surveys, it is found that the last calculated revenue of the e-commerce is almost grown to 33% worldwide, whereas, it is expected that a strong growth is soon to be observed in the coming years. There already exist numerous e-commerce businesses which have established themselves well and trying hard to achieve success. To avoid falling down behind the competition, one needs to know the trends in the e-commerce sector.

E-commerce represents all business dealing with the electronic processing, whereas on the other hand, M-commerce implies trading through wireless handheld devices. In short, previously, buying and selling were done through the internet browsing and website hopping. Later on the extension to this the commercial activities now also conducted by the telecommunication devices with easy access to the internet.

So, here are the top trends expected in the business, which will help us to understand the growth and the opportunities in the sector.

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Editorial Desk

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USER-FRIENDLY WEBSITES AND APPS A major population of the world is aware of the internet usage. Almost everyone uses smartphones, tablets and other portable internet supported devices. Thus, it is very convenient too for everyone to browse the websites of E-commerce companies.

In the recent era, we have observed the majority of people use the mobile, because it saves the time, save the money, and the efforts of customers. With this thought e-commerce companies have started developing the mobile apps i.e. started entering into the M-commerce. Started developing app’s and websites too, with a very catchy, user-friendly and with Responsive –Design. Responsive Design delivers the better user interface, better viewing experience with easy reading, scrolling, and resizing experience.

Today, majority of the E-commerce companies uses Responsive Design on their websites and in mobile apps as well.

2

IMPACT OF SOCIAL COMMERCE Social media is now a day has become a part of everyone’s life. The biggest current trend is the inclusion of e-commerce in social networks. The major reason of inclusion of commerce is that the very strong and powerful support of the internet and where the great availability of low-cost smartphones and low rates of data plans have played a crucial role in exploring the market across the world.

Before 21st century, the marketing strategy was that shoppers personally go to the customers, wherever the customer is. But, today, because of innovative e-commerce technology the new customer database is generating rapidly, also showcasing the products with the best content is easier. Business must need to leverage the total potential of social with systematic, planned and very proper way.

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THE INVENTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND DEVICES

The world is growing faster. Innovative new technologies and devices are launching. The excellent technologies like facial recognition, virtual fitting rooms plays the crucial role in the e-commerce business. The latest technology of Google Glasses, I Watch and other technologies are helping e-commerce industry to grow with an easy access to the internet.

New technologies are helping e-commerce in providing the broad access to consumers. And, also, these devices will provide easy access of internet within easily reachable distance and customers can get rapid updates on the price change, promotions offered to consumers more of the time.

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MORE PERSONALIZED CONTENT

For every business, there is a need for very powerful, interesting and attractive content, in short, a compelling content to grab the customer’s attention. Content is what the major reasons that people follow the brands, and this content actually helps in increasing a sales and loyalty of the brand. From the research it is found that only the content is not sufficient for marketing, but also the small videos, GIF’s, Online Storytelling this all will improve the sales.

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FASTER SERVICE Every business is dependent on the customer. Thus, it is expected to provide very proper services to their customers. A good customer service and on-time delivery of products are what expectations of customers, and all the companies are trying their best to provide the best customer service than other companies.

The competition is so high now a day that everyone is trying their best for the success. After all, for the customers, the experience is important. So that companies must have to improve and upgrade their systems to provide the best experience to their customers.

The success can be achieved, only if companies are consistently upgrading their systems. This will helps business module in development and job creation because of the existing network they have.

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INCREASING TRUST IN E-COMMERCE COMPANIES

In the today’s smart world, it is very difficult to achieve the trust of the customers in online mode or an online transaction. But, the best thing is that the trust between the buyer and seller is getting increasing, from every point of view. This is because of the electronic transaction system, better security mechanism, and delivery system.

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December 2018|

LAN Management Development Service Managing Projects to Deliver Promises

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LANMDS efforts have enabled investors to view Project Management as an important step in safeguarding their interests

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onsumers always love a great product or service. But seldom do they all appreciate all that goes behind the scenes. A product or service as we see it is the result of multiple steps, collaborations, quality checks and more which are essential for the final outcome. Will a great dish, be great if someone missed putting salt in it? That is why each and every step counts.

Organizing the Services In the late 1980s, new methodologies and sophisticated way of working were introduced and the need for a structure to organize and coordinate activities was felt. This structure was identified as Project Management, a discipline which specializes in the areas of activity to be effective and suitably diverse. Recognizing this opportunity, to cater to the needs of the corporate sector; both private and public, LAN Management Development Service later named LAN Management Development Service (Pvt) Ltd. (LANMDS) was established in 1991 in Sri Lanka. Since then, LANMDS has developed into an organization that has effectively served these sectors as well as foreign investors in the capacity of a Project Manager as well as a Consultant for Architecture, Engineering, Project Feasibility, Resource Management and Allocation, Contract Administration, Project Performance Monitoring, Post Contract Administration, Land Development, Human Resource Development & Management, Institutional Development, and other related specializations.

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December 2018|

Special Pro le

he was promoted to Lead Engineer of the Support and Secondary Industry Parks Management of Jubail Industrial City; one of the largest such projects not only in Saudi Arabia, but in the whole world. On returning to Sri Lanka he served as a deputy Director with the Institute for Construction Training and Development (ICTAD). In the year 1991 he commenced his entrepreneurial activities as the Managing Director of LANMDS. Considered as a pioneer in establishing Project Management as a professional discipline, he also devoted a considerable proportion of his time as a visiting lecturer in many Universities and Institutions imparting knowledge and sharing his professional experience.

Eng. Gunasekera was the first Sri Lankan to be elected the President of The Federation of Engineering Institutions of South & Central Asia (FEISCA). During his tenure as the President of the FEISCA he initiated and completed a number of programmes in the region.

Late Eng. Dr.Mervyn Gunasekera

Founder Laying Foundation LANMDS was established by late Eng. (Dr.) Group Capt.

P. Mervyn Gunasekera, a well-respected professional engineer. He graduated with honors from the University of Ceylon in Civil Engineering in 1975 with a B.Sc. (Eng.) Hon. Subsequently he obtained a Master’s degree from Loughborough University UK and followed up by obtaining a Ph.D in Project Management from the Post Graduate Institute of Management Sri Lanka. He was first employed with Walker and Greig Limited as an Assistant Construction Engineer and then joined the Sri Lanka Air Force in 1978 as the Officer in charge of the Work Services Unit with the rank of Flight Lieutenant and was in charge of all maintenance work of the Katunayake Air Base, as a Volunteer Officer attached to the Directorate of Civil Engineering Air Fields Construction Regiment. He was accorded the rank of Group Captain, being the first professionally qualified Volunteer Officer to be so honored in the Air Force. In 1980 he took up an appointment in Saudi Arabia as a Civil Engineer where within six months

December 2018|

Bringing Change The first challenge that LANMDS had to face was that of the mindset. Project Management’s concept was new and considered relatively unimportant by the Consultants & Contractors and perceived by the clients as an unwanted and wasteful expense. The company, through its persistent efforts, was able to demonstrate the cohesion and order that could be achieved through the process of design, estimation, procurement and implementation ensuring conformity to budgets and time constraints to a skeptical audience. These efforts have enabled investors to view the discipline as an important step in safeguarding their interests.

LANMDS uses a step-wise approach to provide services to its clients. The first step is a thorough review of the client’s requirement in order to set the project’s parameters and ensure that it will fulfill the business objectives. Next step is to pro-actively manage the project through all stages of strategy, design, procurement, construction and commissioning, to final handover of the project. Adopting clear lines of communication and a non-adversarial approach, is the key to delivering projects that go beyond

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the clients’ expectations of cost, quality and time. The company also provides services like project Monitoring, Reviewing and carrying out feasibility studies on behalf of Investors and project stakeholders.

Dependable Services LANDMDS boasts of a varied clientele. It has emerged as a dedicated and dependable service provider over different industry sectors such as: Hotels and Resorts like Colombo Hilton Refurbishment, Anantara Resort & Spa, etc.

Educational Institutes like National Nanotechnology Park, Higher Education for the Twenty-first Century (HETC) Project (A World Bank funded Project), etc.

Warehouse and Factory Complexes like Extension of Factory Complex for De La Rue Lanka Currency & Security Print (Pvt) Ltd. United Motors Logistics Center, Warehouses for Unilever Ceylon, etc.

Commercial Office Complexes like Bank of Ceylon Merchant Tower, Brandix Head Office etc.

Charity and Disaster Relief Projects like AYATI Hospital for Disable Children, Children and Environment Friendly Village at Yayawatte, Women’s and Children’s Hospital etc.

Project Monitoring and Feasibility Studies like Lenders Engineer of Alt Air Apartments for Axis Bank, Monitoring Flour Mill Project for National Development Bank etc.

LANMDS’s success is proof to effective Project Management being critical in ensuring that a project is completed to programme, within budget and to the required quality standards. Its project management skills have enabled it to create a proven track record of delivering projects beyond the client’s expectations, regardless of magnitude or complexity. The company, where appropriate, uses strong dedicated computer programmes for planning, programming, monitoring, database management, and communication for project management activities. Hence the firm has been able to develop capacities for delivering project management services with IT applications as well as in the classical format.

Future Perspective Being a pioneer in the project management field, LANMDS advices budding entrepreneurs to provide dedicated and dependable service to investors in the capacity engaged in, and assist in other related specializations to deliver a comprehensive product.

As for its own future path the company aims to be one of the leading Project Management Consultancy in the region. The management and employees are committed to continuously position LANMDS as the leading Project Management Consultant in the region by providing and sustaining the best and the most comprehensive, consistent, effective and highly professional Consultancy service.

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December 2018|

ANANDA SIRISENA & COMPANY Assisting New Businesses to Take the First Few Steps

Sirisena family. Registered company secretary, chartered accountant Maheshika Sirisena acts as Chairperson, while, chartered corporate secretary and Northwood University graduate Isura Sirisena overlooks all the functions of the company as its Executive Director, and Maduranga Sirisena who looks in to the systems administration and IT functions of the company as Director IT & Administration. These three pillars of the company are the main source of inspiration for their company including their late Father Ananda Sirisena who was a fully qualified company secretary with multiple industry experience.

Diversified Solutions

Believe in yourself and always walk that extra mile to help the clients.

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stablished in the year 1978 to serve the long standing clientele of S. Ananda Sirisena, a Registered Company Secretary, Ananda Sirisena & Company is providing comprehensive end-to-end solutions to clients, which are not only limited to company registration documentation, processing banking requirements, obtaining business addresses and other documentation etc. All this leads to creating a corporate legal personality that is ready to take on the current complex business world.

The company encourages young entrepreneurs, their innovative ideas to getting into the business world by providing the correct legal frame works for their businesses.

The Trio with Substantial Experience The company which was converted to a private limited entity is today run by the second generation of the 32

With the primary objective to provide comprehensive solutions to clients through the delivery of personal and high-quality service with professional excellence, the company offers a diverse range of skills with expertise to meet clients’ needs; and to respond them with swiftness befitting current complex business requirements. The company also offers the services in procurement of any merchandise from local and overseas markets and attends to import and export activities.

Working for many years with well-known clients such as CarMart Group, BAM Holdings, Odiris Engineering, Takas, Uswatta Confectionery, Solex, Lalanka Group and the A. S. P. Group among many others, Ananda Sirisena & Company is today in at the forefront of helping businesses to take their first steps.

Apart from these services, Ananda Sirisena & Company also prepares company and business profiles, while offering book-keeping services, payroll processing, business processes re-engineering, reviews of existing accounting systems, and the preparation of management accounts.

‘Getting Things Done’ Today’s young generations have the tendency to get into the startups; and for them the company provides the December 2018|

THE

2018

MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES IN Sri Lanka

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We provide comprehensive solutions to clients through delivering personalized and high-quality service with professional excellence Isura Sirisena Executive Director

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correct guidance to the startup eco systems in Sri Lanka.

Also, the company always believed in one strategy that is ‘GETTING THINGS DONE’, also the firm has believed that ‘LUCK IS WHEN THE PREPERATION MEETS THE OPPORTUNITY’. Henceforth, Ananda Sirisena & Company always takes challenges by grabbing every opportunity.

More about the Company Ananda Sirisena & Company, a registered corporate secretaries and incorporator recently concluded successfully incorporating its 250th company in to the local business fraternity. It has recently, also established Ananda Sirisena & Company (Australia) Pty Ltd in 2017 and Double Entry (Pvt) Ltd. Company has identified the need for a knowledgeable partner for companies that are looking to do things the right way from the inception itself, Ananda Sirisena & Company offers a comprehensive company registration package to anyone who wishes to start up a company in Sri Lanka.

Future Endeavors The company is planning to expand its services to accounting, operations and administrative functions to the startups and is all set to open its third branch office in South Korea in coming next year.

December 2018|

Maduranga Sirisena Director IT & Administration

Executive Director of Ananda Sirisena & Company (Private) Limited, Isura Sirisena summaries “It has indeed been a great pleasure for me as the second generation of this company to see our services enable businesses to get off on the right foot from the get goes.

Seeing businesses establish themselves the right way and then continue to adhere to regulations thereby building a positive corporate image is our end goal. We have worked with numerous companies spanning all industries and are happy to see many of them becoming successful enterprises today”.

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Expert’s Viewpoint

WILL

Blockchain

TECHNOLOGY CHANGE THE WAY WE

Live and Transact

BUSINESS? W

elcome to the world of blockchain; a technology that proposes to make all transactions highly secured and avoids the possibility of double spending for ever. The technology moves the prevalent concept of centralized large databases accessed over secured networks by all, to a decentralized database accessed by a limited number of network nodes. Every transaction over such a secured network shall require to be authenticated by a set of owners. So how does the blockchain technology work?

As shown in the diagram below, every time a transaction needs to be made, it is written down on a small area of memory called a block. Only after all the data is written and proved beyond any doubts to be authentic, is the block connected to the rest of the chain. This connectivity is done using a hash value that depends upon the data contained in the block.

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December 2018|

Pradeep Valsangkar MD & Chief Consultant

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pradeep Valsangkar is the MD & Chief Consultant at GCS Consulting Services.

With the vision of GCS to become a globally respected company for creating and managing knowledge for the overall beneďŹ t of business enterprises, Pradeep is working with his core team. He has done M.Tech. Computer Science (IIT Bombay).

He has also completed his M.B.A. in Faculty of Management Studies, from the University of Delhi. He has completed his M.Sc. Defense Studies, from Defense Services Staff College.

December 2018|

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Since only a limited number of nodes on the network are eligible to connect to the block, its accessibility to any outsider is not possible. Also, all transactions in the block are required to be proven by the people authorized to prove such transactions. Once the limited space on the block is filled with transaction records the block is attached to the chain using a hash value of the data stored on the block.

Such a chain of blocks (Called the blockchain) keeps the record of all transactions and connects all subsequent transactions to the connected previous events.

While the concept of blocks of data connected on a hash value evolved around the end of the last century, it was put to first successful use by an anonymous developer called “Satoshi Nakamoto”. He created the first popular crypto-currency “Bitcoin” using the blockchain technology.

The currency rapidly gained popularity. At its peak, a bitcoin was exchanging for nearly $20K. The popularity of crypto-currencies brought the blockchain technology in to focus. It was soon realized that the technology could be used for creating other secured networks and applications. Such research leads to the development of “Smart Contracts”. Smart contracts completely automate any live business use case. Given that all business processes are invariably driven through a contractual understanding between two parties, the Smart Contracts tend to automate the complete functioning of all business processes. Such smart contracts are driven using payments of crypto-currencies and bring in automated 38

execution of contractual obligations between parties. The data & code pertaining to the smart contracts is stored in blocks and upon receiving the necessary payments in crypto-currencies and the designated triggers, the contracts automatically execute to bring about the required results of the contractual obligations of the involved parties.

Given that most of the businesses and governments across the globe run on the basis of contractual obligations between individuals and organizations, smart contracts are likely to completely automate the functioning of governments and businesses across the world. The government of Andhra Pradesh in India is already using the technology to acquire and register the land required to build its capital at Amravati. Given that cyber-security is a matter of national concern to governments, Blockchain technology promises to usher in a highly secured and trusted economy to the nations. However, the time is taken to prove transactions and a high value of energy requirements are keeping the technology at bay for several organizations.

The adoption of block-chain technology is rather slow. It is still not clear if and when the technology shall see widespread usage and be mainstreamed into different activities of nations. But a high degree of security, coupled with automated execution of all processes, promises to usher in a reliable business environment riding at the back of blockchain technology. It is hoped that the technology will enable nations to build secured and trusted economies in the future.

December 2018|

HALAL ACCREDITATION COUNCIL A Frontrunner in the Food & Beverage Space

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ith the introduction of the global economy, industries across continents engaged in trade, which brought out the need to manufacture products that cater to market specific requirements. The application of science and technology to the food production brought remarkable efficiencies to the table and created a competitive edge for industry practitioners to create consumables that were unique and affordable.

The new-age discoveries required checks and balances that would aid in safeguarding the consumer from malpractices by producers, hence the introduction of food-based certification originated. With globalization, a prerequisite for manufacturers that intended to cater to markets specific to OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) based countries, were the products that conform to the Islamic dietary laws.

With the right people performing designated functions, HAC dedicates its success and longevity to its core team.

Team HAC consists of forty individuals, which include professionals, food scientists, and theologians, qualified from the leading Universities in Sri Lanka and across the globe. The company’s team of Halal & Technical auditors has also been recognized by the accreditation authorities for having the requisite set of competencies.

The Hardship Story During the last quarter of 2013, Halal in Sri Lanka was portrayed with negativity for political gains. This abruptly caused a halt to the issuance of the Halal certification and in turn a subsequent closure to the previous certification body.

Without certification, exports to markets that required Halal were hampered. This vacuum, in turn, caused clients to appeal for the continuation of Halal Certification in Sri Lanka. Acknowledging this dire need of the industry, the think tank including prominent businessmen, lawyers, professionals, theologians, and industry luminaries formed Halal Accreditation Council, which became operational since January 2014.

Given the status quo at that time, the HAC leadership and staff faced multiple hardships caused by anti-halal elements that were determined to stop Halal certification. Having to begin from scratch with a seed capital that would last for 3 months only, with zero revenue and predetermined fixed costs was indeed a Herculean challenge to any startup.

Halal assurance in the Food & Beverage space, first associated with Meat, had subsequently evolved to a process of certification, whereby providing the discerning consumer an assurance that products manufactured were void of dead animals, poisonous/harmful substances, blood based derivatives, pig based products, carnivorous animals, alcohol, reptiles, rodents, insects, human body parts, to name a few.

HAC had to deal with inadequate official recognition by the Government and prevalence of anti-Halal sentiments prevalent in the public due to negative publicity. Also, reluctance of institutions to be associated with Halal certification for fear of being classed as Halal supportive was a significant challenge. Converting these challenges into opportunities, the company has successfully rolled out services with impeccable novelty. With the grace of Almighty, HAC’s leadership, patience, perseverance, determination, and will power has transformed it as a one-of-its-kind brand in its sector. Today, the company has a client base of 220, including multinational companies, where the clientele efficaciously produces over 6,200 Halal certified products.

Established in 2014, Halal Accreditation Council Limited (HAC) is a non-profit organization formed purely on a need basis, under the Companies’ Act No. 7 of 2007. It is the only certification body in Sri Lanka, offering Halal compliance certification to a wide range of industries including FMCG and Healthcare to name a few.

The Future Leadership Aakif A. Wahab is the Head of Branding and Business Development at the Halal Accreditation Council. He has completed his BSc. (Hons) in Business Management from the University of Wales, Cardiff and is also a Certified Gemologist, D. Gem (SL) from the Gemologists

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December 2018|

THE

2018

MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES IN Sri Lanka

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At HAC we maintain a high degree of professionalism and transparency over its operations, for the benefit of both its clients enabling them to cater to the discerning Halal conscious consumers and the later to have the opportunity to choose from a wider range of Halal certified products

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Association of Sri Lanka. He has been commissioned with the task of driving the company towards growth and sustainability. Under his aegis, the company ensures that the short-term and long-term objectives set out by the management are being met on time.

Aakif has a decade of experience in the corporate space, which includes six years in the MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference, and Exhibition) industry, revolving around Islamic Lifestyle namely: Finance, Muslim Friendly Tourism, Halal F&B, and Fashion.

More about HAC Providing mentoring, empowerment, and succession planning is what best describes HAC The company encourages its staff to actively participate in team building, whereby they are able to voice their opinion and actively engage in the development of the system.

Employees are nominated to take on leadership irrespective of their job positions in the management hierarchy. HAC also encourages this ethos in official projects, sports, and activities related to social welfare.

Despite trying times, in a span of five years since incorporation, the company obtained noteworthy certifications and accreditations including ISO 9001:2015 (Super Large Scale Integration), ISO 27001:2013 (Bureau Veritas Certification) and the GCC Accreditation Centre (GAC) in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065:2012, for “Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies certifying products, process and services”, and GSO 20552:2015, “Halal Food – part 2 – Requirements for Halal certification bodies.”

Aakif A. Wahab Head of Branding and Business Development

independent research commissioned by the HAC, export earnings to Sri Lanka, through Halal certification amounted to USD 1.6 Billion (Est Avg. 2012 - 2017). Exports are a key driver of an economy and Halal certification can be deemed as an enabler for clients to access this growing segment, whilst indirectly contributing to the National Export agenda.

Guiding the Young Minds For running any business, integrity and trustworthiness is a mandatory competence one must possess. As such, HAC advises the beginners to eliminate the shortcuts and develop a business plan driven by perseverance and commitment.

Also, one should be willing to take on challenges, then assess and evaluate all the options comprising business sustainability, profitability, and market requirements.

A Bigger Picture The future is full of opportunities, where the Certification bodies would embrace and adopt the concept of Digitalization. The usage of IoT and Blockchain to aid in traceability of raw materials used in the products, with a farm-to-fork approach would revolutionize the F&B space.

Apart from this, Progression of Disintermediation – with the rapid development of E-Commerce, access to Halal certified products would be made possible irrespective of geographic location.

With sheer determination and unified efforts, HAC will continue to be a key facilitator for driving Sri Lanka exports, in the F&B space, specific for exports to discerning markets across the globe.

Company’s Take of Halal Certification Industries will continue to see an upward shift towards the growing need for Halal certified products. Based on an December 2018|

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BUSINESS WITH

a k n a L i r S T

he year 2017 has been the challenging year for Sri Lanka, due to a complex political environment and the impact of natural disasters like floods and prolonged drought across the country. According to an independent research, in 2018, the economy is expected to accelerate which are buttressed by a robust services sector and recoveries in the agricultural and industrial sectors. To strengthen democracy and reconciliation, inclusive and equitable growth and to ensure good governance, with the support of World Bank, the country has designed the Vision 2025 which highlights/showcases: • Carrying out economic reforms • Improving public financial management • Increasing public and private investments • Addressing infrastructure constraints • Improving competitiveness

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December 2018|

Market Challenges

Business Talk

Sri Lanka is focusing on long-term strategic and structural development challenges as a lower middle-income country with a population of over 21 million strives to transition to an upper middle-income country. Sri Lanka is open to foreign investment, as this will offer an open financial system, stable monetary policy, experienced local companies and improving infrastructure.

In 2017, Sri Lanka’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reached over $87 billion. Due to the decreased agricultural output the Sri Lankan economy grew by only 3% in 2017, as opposed to the 4% growth recorded the previous year. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Sri Lanka’s GDP to grow by approximately 4% in 2018.

Total annual imports are approximately $21 billion, mainly from India, China, UAE, and Singapore and the U.S. exports of goods to Sri Lanka were close to $336 million in 2017.

The U S is the largest single market for Sri Lankan exports, receiving about $2.9 billion of the $11 billion total exports from Sri Lanka in 2017.

December 2018|

Country Commercial Guide

The Market Overview

Key challenges include: • Boosting foreign investment • Realigning public spending and policy with the needs of a middle-income country • Enhancing the role of the private sector, including the provision of an appropriate environment for increasing productivity and exports Things to be Aware of When Entering the Sri Lankan Market • The top business concerns, today, are inconsistent and unpredictable policies (e.g. taxation, required approvals, regulations, investment incentives).

• Foreigners are strictly not allowed to purchase land in Sri Lanka.

• The government always supports import substitution.

• Importers to Sri Lanka face the high import duties and other taxes.

• On a range of imported items, Sri Lanka’s tax rates have effectively increased.

• Agricultural imports face stiff health regulations that sometimes exceed the global standards.

• U.S. rights-holders face problem of privacy in music, film, software, and some consumer products.

• Qualified workers are in short supply as a result of the education system producing too few engineers, technicians, scientists, and English speakers.

• Business representatives complain that the rigid labor laws, including exceptionally high severance pay regulations, make it difficult to adjust staff size and composition to market conditions.

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Sri Lanka-Market Opportunities

Here is the overview of the best prospect sectors, major infrastructure projects, significant government procurements and the business opportunities.

The private sector is the engine of the economy. This sector is led by services such as tourism, information communication technologies, transport, international trade, banking and export industries such as tea, rubber-based products, and gems.

The government of Sri Lanka is aiming to positioning their country as an export-oriented economic hub at the center of the Indian Ocean. It is also expecting to attract export-oriented foreign direct investment (FDI), improve trade logistics, and boost firms’ abilities to compete in global markets.

Infrastructure development needs includes roads, power, rail roads, water, and cold-storage facilities for agriculture products. Talking about the Textiles, it approximately $2.7 billion of textiles imports Sri Lanka. Coming to the Agriculture, has great opportunity in wheat grain, lentils, cotton yarn, and fruits.

Some of the other products are Telecommunications and computer equipment, computer software, power and energy, electronics and electrical machinery, mechanical equipment, energy efficient machinery, medical equipment, and apparel industry equipment. However, franchises offer another amazing opportunity to appeal to tourists and a growing middle class.

India-Sri Lanka and Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) offer duty-free and preferential access to the vast Indian and Pakistan markets for products manufactured in Sri Lanka or that have been transformed through value addition in Sri Lanka. Exporters, however, still encounter non-tariff barriers.

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December 2018|

BITCOIN THE FUTURE

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he reason Bitcoin is distinctive is not because it is a virtual currency but because it is a proof of the idea that a decentralized, digital currency is undeniably achievable. Nevertheless, the Bitcoin is blemished in a number of ways, but it proves the opportunity that virtual currencies can exist and might succeed in the near future.

Trendsetters just have to learn from the challenges of the Bitcoin and build better digital currencies devoid of the flaws of the Bitcoin. Evidence points to the datum that in the near future, Bitcoin and other forms of virtual money will play an increasing role in the global payments arrangement.

Studies show that they are being used in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The number of companies accepting Bitcoin is continuously rising and major players like Expedia, Paypal, and Word press are also accepting the virtual currency. According to the “UseBitcoin.info”, more than 2000 businesses worldwide are using the Bitcoin. A major concern with cryptocurrency is that of hacking, as with any software, but the Bitcoin has been untouched by this. All attempts at hacking the coding of Bitcoin have all failed although attempts at hacking Bitcoin exchanges and Wallets have been more successful.

Several individuals are buying Bitcoins as an investment option, hoping they’ll increase in value. There are numerous online “Bazaars” that permit people to buy and sell Bitcoins using different currencies. Coin-base, in San Francisco, runs the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange and operates 2.8 million Bitcoin wallets globally.

It is possible to do complex financial trades with Bitcoins, such as futures, options, and swaps. The price of Bitcoins on online exchanges has fluctuated widely, which has led to speculation in the digital currency.

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According to its inventor Nakamoto, as long as the total computing power of honest nodes using the Bitcoin network outweighs the computing power of a group of attackers or hackers, then the network will remain unharmed. This does not mean that the Bitcoin software will not ever be hacked as someday; a genius like Nakamoto may just successfully crack the Bitcoin software.

Conclusively, the Government of India has to see the Bitcoin as an opportunity and use this opening to improve the social and economic conditions of the country. The way the Internet symbolized an opportunity is also how Bitcoin is an opportunity itself. And according to the several supremacies, increases financial access and break down several socio-economic barriers. Though presently, the Government of India does not have legislative rights over the Bitcoin, if it does have such in the future, it should not legislate for the sake of regulating it.

Such regulations will only thwart the business transactions and lead to restraints, rather than controlling the business and leading to improvements.

Block-chain ledgers back the Bitcoin. All confirmed transactions are included in the blockchain. This way, Bitcoin wallets can compute their spendable balance and new transactions can be verified to be spending Bitcoins that are actually owned by the spender. The integrity and the chronological order of the blockchain are enforced with cryptography.

The Bitcoin is very dynamic and is here to stay and due to this, the government should also take into account the technological advancements that the economy is passing through. Legislations should be passed keeping in mind the E-future of the country.

December 2018|

Entrepreneur Speak

Pragun Akhil Jindal Indian Author, Speaker, and Entrepreneur

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pragun Akhil Jindal is an Indian Author, Speaker, and Entrepreneur. He is noted for his work in Black Money and in the Finance field. Pragun has been writing since the age of 19 and has presented papers, articles and solutions in various fields like Black Money, Curbing Tax Evasion, and Financial Literacy in the youth Jindal authored The Black White & Grey: Recoloring The Rupiah, which was published by Money Worries In August 2016. The book was listed in the top 5 books on Amazon in the Public Administration & Finance categories for close to 2 months after publication. He is based out of New Delhi and is a director in one of India’s most admired tax research company and PE fund - Jindal Equity Research Limited.

December 2018|

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