INVESTMENT & EXPORT PROMOTION

This initiative is endorsed by destination branding models adopted successfully within the Tourism industry and by countries such as Singapore, India, South Africa, France, Germany and Argentina etc. in branding Sri Lanka with a view of stimulating its export growth, attracting foreign direct investment and managing negative stereotyping.
ICTA engages in overseas business/country promotion activities with the main intention of creating country branding/positioning targeting captives, analysts etc. promoting the country as a viable destination to setup an offshore operation, attracting ICT investments to the country and exploring overseas business promotion opportunities for local companies.
In achieving the target of USD 3 billion in export revenue by 2025, ICTA through the ‘Investment & Export Promotion’ initiative conducted under the Technology Industry Development Programme, focuses on promoting Sri Lanka as a destination to source technology and skill.

objectives

• To create visibility for the Sri Lankan IT BPM industry brand – “Island of Ingenuity”
• To provide opportunities for local IT and BPM companies to exhibit and take part in local and international exhibitions and conferences
• To provide opportunities for local IT and BPM companies to meet and network with potential local and international clients/partners to foster business partnerships

In Essence

About

The Country Branding and Business Promotion program promotes international exposure in designated countries for the domestic (Sri Lankan) ICT Industry

f t y

Partners

ICT Agency, Industry Associations, EDB, BOI, Business Chambers

Impact

•   A Sri Lankan Financial Shared Services center awarded the Winner for “Best Process Improvement and Innovation” at the Shared Services and Outsourcing Network (SSON) Australasian Excellence Awards 2016
•   Brand exposure globally (primarily targeting the demand markets such as UK, Australia, Europe, South & South East Asia)
•   ICTA’s Industry Development program has supported the industry and the industry body (SLASSCOM) in expanding its business development activities in the UK market in 2009 as well. These facilitations and engagement with the UK market helped Sri Lanka to be recognized as the winner – offshoring destination of the year 2013 & 2014 and shortlisted in 2015 by the National Outsourcing Association, UK
•   Improvement in the ATKEARNEY Rating for Offshore Destinations
•   Improvement in the Gartner Rating for Offshore Destinations
•    75 unique companies have received at least one opportunity through ICTA to be part of an exhibition or networking meeting in Australia. 80% of the beneficiary companies have either got sales, setup a partner network or established an office in Australia
•   Partnerships made with Government and trade entities in Australia

Statistics

•   Sponsor of NOA Awards in 2013
•   Creation of the Sri Lanka IT BPM Destination brand
•    75 unique companies participated in networking events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne
•    47 unique companies participated at CeBIT Australia during 2011-2013 & 2017
•   25 unique companies participated at Gartner Symposium and Exhibition, Gold Coast during 2013-2016
•   8 companies participated at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain in 2017
•   Country pavilion organized at Gartner Symposium and Expo, London, UK
•   Competitive Benchmarking report produced by ATKEARNEY
•   One on One meetings with 40+ Gartner Analysts

Direct/indirect exports revenue from Australia is US$ 7,000,000+ and additionally US$ 1,000,000+ as a potential sales pipeline

Overseas and Local Business Promotion

Industry consultation and analysis of industry markets is conducted to promote international exposure of the domestic ICT Industry, within designated countries. Organizing of overseas and local business promotion missions are conducted via the identification of potential trade shows/exhibitions & conferences, by retaining a matchmaking/ PR company in the target country, to raise awareness and facilitate business links. Facilitation of overseas business/country promotion activities will be done by working closely with international stakeholders/ network channels.
The process will include ICTA sending out an EOI to the industry seeking its interest, shortlisting delegate companies based on a selection criteria, conducting capacity building sessions targeting selected companies followed by monitoring/evaluating their pre-mission as well as on-mission and post-mission performance.
The project has led the Sri Lankan IT and BPM Sector to engage with the UK and Australian markets since 2010. Over 30 business promotion activities have been funded and supported during the 2010 – 2018 period, which includes country pavilions at the Gartner Symposium & IT Expo in UK and Australia, and business networking meetings in London (UK), Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne (Australia) and Singapore.

Go to Market Support for IT Product Companies

This initiative was launched by the project in March 2017. The objective of this program is to subsidize the cost for local IT product companies in their efforts of seeking support for overseas business development activities for market penetration and new market development with the aim of increasing export revenue and local employment.

Process: an overseas business development activity in the form of a trade mission or exhibition must be identified by the IT product company. An IT Company which owns the IP for a software product or products developed in-house is eligible to benefit, and the applicant should provide evidence in the application (critical evaluation) that the identified activity forms part of a strategic plan to develop their business/markets and the go-to market strategy.

Destination Branding

In-line with global best practices on destination branding and AT Kearney’s recommendations to improve the overall rankings and the attractiveness as a leading destination for IT-BPM services, the Sri Lanka IT BPM brand that was created in 2014 was consistently used till the beginning of 2019 to give visibility and promote the country as a viable destination for IT-BPM services and to source technology and skill.

This brand was launched as an image changing campaign, bench marking Sri Lanka against the other competing countries in the region and leveraging Sri Lanka as a knowledge hub, highlighting the hygiene factors the industry/country possesses as a competitive destination; ICTA has led a stakeholder driven approach from designing to implementing of the brand, and has been closely working with the relevant government bodies and industry associations such as EDB, BOI, SLASSCOM, FITIS, The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) etc. Subsequently, through a branding committee that was formed in which ICTA’s Industry Development program too got involved as a stakeholder for its consultative process, above brand got evolved and was launched as the “Island of Ingenuity”

Furthermore, ICTA through the Industry Development Program has played a pivotal role in coordinating with the stakeholders of the IT-BPM industry to ensure a unified message is delivered as a nation. The brand and Sri Lanka as a destination is continuously promoted when exhibiting at country pavilions, via social media, country promotion material such as the country video, the country book and mission booklets.

And at international business community networking forums, ICTA delivers customized presentations on Sri Lanka, highlighting the many ways the country is transforming towards a creative knowledge-based society through digitally empowered citizenship, giving rise to a conducive environment for investment and conducting of business. Meanwhile, all promotional material and country pitches are customized towards the different target groups/markets, and the country/brand is promoted during targeted roadshows, networking forums etc.