Sri Lanka is ranked second among 250 global start-up ecosystems in terms of affordable talent according to the 2020 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) by Startup Genome. In fact, Sri Lanka is the first in the Asia Pacific region for affordable talent making the island nation a destination worth tapping on to.
The report draws comparisons to the average salary of a software engineer in Sri Lanka: $ 3000 to that of $ 42100, which is the global average salary. Sri Lanka is home to highly talented IT professionals and they have a huge demand in both local and international companies. The major reason being the government’s focus on building a strong IT workforce by strengthening the IT education network. The government took steps to commence a separate IT stream for the Advanced level, incorporate IT-related degrees to the local university system, and is in the process of building Tech universities that have identified the huge potential of the IT industry.
The report further highlights why investors need to look at Sri Lanka by exploring the ecosystem value. Sri Lanka’s startup ecosystem value has more than doubled from Rs 5.4 billion to Rs 11.2 billion in 2019.
The report also sheds light on the initiatives taken by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to support the Fintech startups. The CBSL recently unveiled a new regulatory sandbox in order to facilitate sustainable innovations, financial inclusion, and create a cash-less society through digitization. The Sandbox is expected to reduce the regulatory uncertainty faced by Fintech companies and aid in the reduction of costs and time for successful Fintech applicants to enter the market. It also introduced Rs 50 billion refinancing facilities for banks, enabling them to expand their lending capacity by Rs 400 billion and provide working capital loans to businesses at a reduced rate of 4%.
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