Across Sri Lanka, we meet many other spirited entrepreneurs—from spice farms, and fisheries to young designers, software engineers, and even creative professionals – who each possess the drive and local insight to build vibrant businesses that can empower themselves financially, and create quality employment for others.

Our role as a bank is to spot these visionaries early, to tailor financing and advisory support to their specific needs, and to partner with them as they scale. By doing so, we rebuild livelihoods and catalyse a new wave of valueadded enterprises that can compete nationally and even internationally.

At its core, Sarusara seeks to help Sri Lankan farmers understand, integrate and adapt to technology in their work. Confronted with yields well below global benchmarks, rural communities remain tethered to traditional practices not out of preference but because of entrenched knowledge and resource gaps.

We begin by introducing basic laboursaving implements—hand tractors, threshers and minicombine harvesters—but swiftly moves participants towards advanced systems such as droneassisted crop monitoring and mobile soilmapping services. Through pilot schemes set to scale in the coming year, we are laying the groundwork for precision agriculture practices to be scaled across the island, optimising fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides, curbing waste while driving meaningful productivity gains and improving margins for farmers.

In time, the full integration of precision agriculture and automation will free up valuable labour, creating a new imperative: supporting communities as they transition to different forms of employment. As routine tasks become automated, fresh opportunities will emerge for higherskilled roles in equipment maintenance, data analysis and agritechnology entrepreneurship across regional hubs.

Strengthening national economic resilience

To seize these gains, Sri Lanka must invest now in education and vocational training, ensuring that future generations are equipped to thrive in an increasingly technologydriven agrarian economy.

While these technological and agricultural transitions are vital, we cannot expect them alone to deliver game‑changing results in the short term. In the interim, further structural reforms are essential—most notably in our export sector. The crisis laid bare how critical exports are as a growth engine for Sri Lanka, and with thousands of SMEs and abundant natural resources at our disposal, we have the raw ingredients for a robust export renaissance. Yet to truly elevate our global standing, we must cultivate a small cadre of large, home‑grown exporters capable of anchoring entire value‑chain ecosystems.

While capital must continue to be channeled into the grassroots, simultaneously we must also follow the example of Asia’s most dynamic economic success stories – from India and China to Vietnam and South Korea. In each, they were able to focus investment into substantial enterprises, around which vibrant ecosystems were then built.

Sri Lanka too must seek to build a new generation of national champion export brands that can emulate and build on the success of the nation’s current leaders while competing in entirely new markets. Those focused on export manufacturing need to be incentivized to scale themselves up within our Export Processing Zones. Their scale and ambition would not only generate direct export revenues but also spur demand for upstream suppliers, logistics providers and support services, creating a virtuous circle of growth.

From a macroeconomic standpoint, building these national champions must be a strategic priority. Banks have a crucial role to play—designing bespoke financing structures, co‑investing alongside foreign, private and public partners, and underwriting the large‑scale capital commitments that these export leaders require.

To align private capital with public purpose, we must harness our collective expertise and deploy our resources where they will have the greatest impact. In doing so, we will not only restore trust in our economy but also chart a course towards a Sri Lankan revival that is both resilient and inclusive—one in which every citizen can take pride and share in our nation’s success.

Concluded

By Damith Pallewatte,
Managing Director/CEO, HNB PLC
Continued from Tuesday