October 12, 2024

Sri Lanka’s ICT and Startup community on the State of Emergency issued by the Government

5 min read

We represent the product, services, and startup companies of the ICT ecosystem in Sri Lanka. This community is a free and an independent group of industry leaders who deeply value our civil liberties. Sri Lanka’s digital economy represents approximately 4.37% of GDP and this is positioned to grow exponentially in the coming years. We represent the present and future businesses of this country and a growing ecosystem with the potential to attract foreign exchange. 

Our concerns: 

As a community, we are gravely concerned by the declaration of the state of emergency by his Excellency the President on the night of April 1st, 2022. Our community is of the view that the declaration of state of emergency is not the solution to the present social economic situation. We believe that the right approach is in fact to open a dialogue between the political leadership and the country’s constituents. 

Over the past few months our nation has faced extreme difficulties including the lack of power, fuel and basic imports necessary to sustain our lives and livelihoods. But more than facing these hardships, most of this community finds it difficult to defend and justify to its stakeholders that Sri Lanka is a safe environment to build innovative businesses, products and provide continued services at global standards. The current situation sends dangerous signals and in fact many of our community have had to start looking outside of Sri Lanka for the continued delivery of their products and services. The economic impact created by the current situation further compounds the challenges faced by our early-stage companies and will prevent necessary investment and risk capital to come into the country. We beseech the government to repeal the State of Emergency as this is causing more uncertainty amongst our stakeholders. 

This ecosystem has developed itself mostly on its own, relying on the support of each other on the values of freedom of expression and collaboration. Hence this ecosystem is firmly committed to protecting people’s basic civil liberties which includes the freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly. 

This community for its part is committed to protecting the rights of its constituents and the basic civil liberties we expect of a democratic nation state. We believe that the decisions that affect the country need to be participatory and collaborative with our industry. 

What we require from you immediately: 

  • Ensure stability in governance and fiscal management of inflation to provide overall confidence to the ICT community. 
  • Improve decision making by the government to provide the minimum power required for the continuity of our industry and introduce incentives immediately for solar and other renewable energy solutions. 
  • Provide access for startups and small businesses to the minimum dollars required to pay for essential services not available locally. 
  • Remove emergency, curfew, and suppression of citizens’ rights to peacefully protest and or express displeasure of what they are experiencing as severe hardships. 
  • Refrain from blocking access to the internet and all social media sites during states of emergencies that completely deny business for startups who rely on accessing their customers, suppliers and/or produce through these channels. 
  • We require transparency and accountability at all levels of government. 

…………………

Signed hereby 

Harsha PurasingheMicroimage 
Jeevan GnanamVeracity/Hatch
Mangala KarunaratneCalcey Technologies
Lankan Angel NetworkLankan Angel Network
Council for Startups of the Ceylon Chamber of CommerceCouncil for Startups of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce
Fathhi MohamedDishserve 
Chandima Coorayayubo.life
Shahani MarkusEmojot
Aloka GunasekaraRebel Tusker (Private) Limited
Dinusha Kornkaduwa Augustory Corp 
Eranga WeeraratneOmobio
Oshadie Korale XpressJobs 
Sanjiva WeerwaranaWSO2
Brindha SelvaduraiHatch Pvt Ltd
Randhula de Silva Good Life X
Nathan SivagananathanHatch Pvt Ltd 
Rohith Pradeep SAKS Global 
Yohan Wijesiriwardane PAYable
Mustafa KassimRoar Global
Dhanusha Muthukumarana POTENZA PVT Limited
Raveen Wijayatilake InGame Esports / Gamer.LK
Alagan MahalingamRootcode Labs
Hasith Yaggahavita99x
Suresh Tharmarajah ZILLIONe
Gazzaly Maxsolpro Pvt Ltd 
Hasitha Liyanage:Different
Dulitha WijewanthaCabbage Apps
Sivanathan PragalathenPeercore Nexgen (Pvt) Ltd
Nuzhi MeyenHelios P2P
Jude KumarEatMe Global
Eyas FazulRHODA
Chameera WijebandaraLiveRoom (Pvt) Ltd.
Tharindu MalawaraarachchiFcode Labs
Theekshana KumaraVizuaMatix
Jayakrishnan RajagopalasarmaArogya Life Systems
Anojan Kaneshathas Apptimus Tech
Wellington PereraVirtulink Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.
Upendra PierisOREL IT Pvt Ltd 
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Farhard HussainCemex Software (Pvt) Ltd.
Ziyam KamilCenmetrix (Pvt) Ltd.
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Prasad SiriwardenaSterling BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd
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Chathini UduwanaTypefi Systems 
Harsha AbegunasekaraMetana
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Kalinga Gunawardhana Ceydigital 
Roshaan Ranasinghe Tribefunds
Ajith PasqualParaqum Technologies (Pvt) Ltd
Mohammed FawazCurveup (PVT) LTD
Visharathan KugamoorthyCreo 360 (Pvt) Ltd
Prathlosh ParamasivamTectera (Pvt) Ltd
Mohammed Mafaz Show & Tell (Pvt) Ltd 
Aabith SabeerSimplebooks (Pvt) Ltd
Tharaka De AlwisYour Team in Asia
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Shavini Fernando OxiWear.Inc
Shenali de SilvaGood Life X
Johann De CruzBISTEC Global Services Pvt Ltd
Imesh LiyanageTekSek Cyber Security 
Matti HiobAtlas Labs
Dhyresh MendisThe Nescius
Irfan AhmedInnovation Quotient
Midushaun RhodesNot Another Agency
Tharindu MeepegamaIDawn Technologies
Mary Prabashi Fonseka Bashi Media 
Sabir EsufaliShopbox
Heminda Jayaweeraventure frontier lanka
Aisha WahabArteculate Asia
Saliya WithanaEnfection
Ziyam AbdeenWinSYS Networks
Sachin WickramasingheThyaga
Madushanka WanigasuriyaAdeona Technologies
Gayantha De ZoysaStrive
Prasad SamarasingheBellvantage
Andrew JebarajRocketeer Labs
Shivani A. TyronneMiris by Islandmom
Sashini JinasenaLeo The Label (Pvt) Ltd
Surangi PereraIsland Nation (pvt) Ltd 
Ismail sadurdeenUniviser Pvt Ltd
Manesh Jayawardhana Ceyentra Technologies 
Chamira Prasad JayasingheArimac Lanka Pvt Ltd
Shavin PeiriesVery Bad Wizards
Bhagya Sandakelum Blue Fish. lk (Pvt) Ltd 
Nuha GhouseTutopiya 
Hiranya SamarasekeraCODICE
Wajira Wanigasekera VSONE 
Kaniahka Weeramunda PayMedia
Sasindu PathiranaDirectPay
Nelisa AlgamaSquareHub 
Joey PereraBoostMetrics
Nimeshanan KulendraLearnWare (Pvt) Ltd
Zainab MiskinLilac Kukuns – Relationship Wellness Boutique
Jehan Wijesinghe ProductTavern
Umanda Jayobandara Ifonix
Kirlosh WarranLeaap Media (Pvt) Ltd
Sankalpa GamwarigeNagarro
Sara Nazoor ALKE Sri Lanka – Handmade Jewelry 
Khalid Anver Trad X 
Oenone MillsNight Shades Stationery
Shenuka Umagiliya Balamu Enterprises Ltd
Mangalee GoonetillekeReMAtics
Irosha de SilvaCreativeHub
Hansa WijayausndaraOctopus BI
Damitha JayarathnaSoftcodeit
Sanjaya Elvitigala eLearning.lk
Roshan Nilaweera GEC Lanka
Kithmal WarnasooriyaElysian Crest
John SriskandarajahTelexar Technologies
Christiaan QuynDataSprig Pvt LTD
Tina LoboTrue 
Duminda Dharmadasa
Nithushan Uthayakumar Blue lotus 360 Pvt LtD
Umavisakan NathanBlue Lotus X International Pvt Ltd
Dhanika PereraPayHere
Alister Joseph Nova Corp
Suren PintoWavenet International Pvt Ltd
Zulfer JiffryPickMe
Lahiru ParhmalalTakas.lk 
Prasad HettiarachchiAgaya Holdings (Private) Limited
Tharanga PereraSana Commerce Pvt Ltd
Migara AmithodhanaMagicbit
Sumedha RubasingheEntgra (Pvt) Ltd
Sajini JayawardenaImpactr.
Amjad Nazeer
Joel Damien
Dilanka AsiriVeracityDev
Rifadh SimshekAkto Solutions
CD AthuraliyaConscientAI
Dilshan Kathriarachchi Half Life
Izzath BisthamyAkto Solutions
Isuru prasadAeturnum
Abdul MujeebFGC 
Thangarajah ThavarubanSpeed IT net
Kevin Sundar RajA P T R Development (Pvt) Ltd
Damian Perrin Vanniasinkam Etenders.lk (Pvt) Ltd
Rumaiza RefaiUrban Colour Junkie
Chaminda Kandamby Superb Business solutions (pvt)Ltd 
Amaar AdamalyThe Effect Sri Lanka
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Thiyagaraj SomasundaramEatMe Global
Omar Fatha RallyTellida 
Nalina WijesundaraTechlabs Global (Pvt) Ltd
Owin CKEmpire Clothing Club (Pvt) Ltd.
Safiya SideekElements by Safiya
Sahan RanasingheSanota (Pvt.) Ltd
Anuradha WeeramanConceptVines
Amizhthini NakkeeranAze IT Consultancy (Pvt) ltd
Anuruddha RajapakshaSerendib Systems
Roshanali AmarasekeraSpark 360 (Pvt) Ltd / Ceylon Organic House 
Ijaz Ahamed Ilyas Royal Sulaiha Holdings 
Yusra Aziz EliyasPodi Jobs
Ishara Kotagama Plava Pvt. Ltd. 
Newan VinthusaCode94 Labs Pvt. Ltd
Anjana Somathilake Nuclei Technologies (Private) Limited 
Ayami WanasingheFI Sri Lanka
Randika CoorayLucytech (Pvt)Ltd
Sanna KhaledLucytech (Pvt)Ltd

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