Business
Efforts underway to promote investment from Austria to Sri Lanka

The Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Vienna in collaboration with the Vienna Chamber of Commerce (WKO) organized a hybrid webinar to promote investment from Austria to Sri Lanka.
The hybrid webinar was attended by Regional Manager for Asia & Pacific Region Johannes Brunner, Commercial Attaché of the Austrian Embassy in India Bernd Andersson together with Austrian companies while Chairman of the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka Prasanna Gunasena, Executive Director of Investment Promotion Prasanjith Wijayatilake, Director of Investment Promotion Nilupul de Silva, Head of Ecosystem of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Darshan Maralanda, Deputy Director of Export Development Board of Sri Lanka Udeni Wijekoon, and officials from the Foreign Ministry took part in the event virtually.
Austrian companies representing health, renewable energy, environmental technology and vocational training sectors who are keen to invest in the region, particularly in Sri Lanka were selected by the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. The said companies were namely Odelga Med Engineering GmbH, AME International GmbH, Med-El Elektromedizinische Geräte GmbH, VAMED Engineering GmbH. VACE Systemtechnik GmbH, M-U-T Maschinen-Umwelttechnik-Transportanlagen GmbH and Global Hydro Energy GmbH.
The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to Austria Majintha Jayesinghe welcomed the participants by stating that Sri Lanka has set an ambitious plan to facilitate investments that can have a transformative impact on the economy. The Government is doing its utmost to create an enabling environment to attract more investments. The Ambassador emphasized that special relations between Sri Lanka and Austria have grown exponentially covering a multitude of areas with mutual benefits and called on everyone to join this transformative journey by investing in Sri Lanka.
Regional Manager for Asia & Pacific Region from the Vienna Chamber of Commerce Johannes Brunner highlighted the importance of the webinar to further expand the cooperation between the two countries. It was also pointed out that potential investments from Austria are focused in the fields of renewable energy, pharmaceutical industry and vocational training. It was further highlighted that Sri Lanka needs to develop projects that could attract these investments especially during the Covid pandemic. The participants also expressed their willingness to facilitate the request to procure high quality medicines from Austria to Sri Lanka.
Prasanjith Wijayatilake provided a detailed brief on emerging investment opportunities. Sri Lanka is a vibrant destination with over 1,200 foreign companies engaged in various economic sectors including IT services, tourism, food processing, logistics, education and large-scale infrastructure. It was further stated that Sri Lanka is on the right track to achieve a 5-7% GDP growth rate in the next decade based on a knowledge-driven economy. The Executive Director explained the conducive investment climate with new policies and tax incentives. The briefing also focused on five priority sectors to drive FDIs, namely manufacturing, ICT, hospitality and tourism, agriculture and food processing, construction and infrastructure. The BOI Executive Director also elaborated on the newly created specialized economic zones for pharmaceutical and textile items in Hambantota and Batticaloa.
Business
Women led LPO services firm Velox Partners enters new office space in Colombo

Velox Partners, a tech-based legal process outsourcing (LPO) firm, expanded its presence into Colombo to augment its existing law firm. Velox commenced operations in January 2020 prior to the onset of the pandemic. Today, it has expanded its services across numerous verticals Commercial law, Litigation, Conveyancing and Company Secretarial Services, with Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) Services being the core. It is geared as a fully-fledged legal service provider servicing clients across United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Velox is female-led with over 90% being women comprising versatile and experienced lawyers. Their expertise bridges multiple disciplines of law with a local and global clientele. The two powerhouses leading the firm are its founding partners Lihini Fernando and Dakshika Perera whose collective experience spans over three decades.
Velox Partners saw Covid-19 restrictions and remote working as an opportunity to position the firm as a tech-based entity and launched its LPO arm. Providing back office legal services to law firms across continents was seen as a viable business model that is both functional and lucrative. Furthermore, the partners of Velox realized the potential of positioning Sri Lanka as a LPO Hub, where the LPO sector enables foreign remittance to the island nation to rebuild its economy. This also provided an opportunity particularly as LPO services can be offered remotely, without a physical office presence.
Velox has serviced clients in over 14 jurisdictions worldwide providing solutions on the ethos, ‘Beyond Legal’. Velox believes in combining business efficiency and tech enabled processes to differentiate itself from the conventional law firms.
Lawyers at Velox are solution providers guided by industry expertise. The team comprises professionals based in Australia, the United States of America, Singapore, and Sri Lanka which enables them to draw cross country perspectives in providing services. Velox is now poised to use their multiple years of experience across continents to provide smart legal solutions.
Business
Estonian TV crew gets a taste of Sri Lanka for the first time

Sri Lanka Tourism, under its Scandinavian market promotions hosted a Media FAM with 4 Media personnel from Kanal2 TV from Estonia. The tour started off on February 28 and ended on March 8. The purpose of hosting this tour was to receive more high-end tourist arrivals from Estonia, as well as the other Scandinavian markets including Lithuania and Latvia.
Subsequently, this tour was hosted in collaboration with the Sri Lanka embassy in Sweden which contributed to make this tour a success. The FAM Tour covered all the main tourist attractions in Sri Lanka, including wild life, Ayurveda, Boutique hotels, and also cultural attractions.
All these attractions were filmed and the destination will be promoted on air via Kanal2 TV, through the TV show ‘’ Kaugele Siit’’ (far from here). The first episode of this programme is scheduled to be telecast for 45 minutes. This travel programme has 420,000 followers as their audience. Kanal2 TV was also the official Media partner for the Winter Olympics 2018, a Sri Lanka Tourism press release said.
The release adds: ‘The visitors were quite impressed with the 8-day tour which they had, enjoying every moment of their tour. They were equally mesmerized with the warm hospitality which they received from the Sri Lankans, which they are mostly renowned for. They enjoyed the traditional Sri Lankan cuisine, and the variety of dishes which they tasted. Nevertheless, they had the opportunity of exploring every attraction of the paradise island to convey the message to their fellow Estonians, that Sri Lanka is a unique travel destination which has everything in store for the enthusiastic traveler.
‘They also had a cooking demonstration by courtesy of Siddhalepa Ayurveda Resorts & Spas Wadduwa, and also a Yoga treat at the same venue. Visiting the Turtle Hatchery at Kosgoda , the Elephant orphanage at Pinnawala, going through a safari at Eco park was also another amazing experience which they had during their stay.’
Business
The Academy of International Business signs Memorandum of Understanding with the University of the Pacific

Academy of International Business Sri Lanka (AIB) held its second graduation at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall with over fifty graduates successfully passing out. At the recent graduation, the business academy signed its MOU with the University of the Pacific.
The signing of the MOU is a major milestone for the business academy. The courses offered are DBA, MBA, and BBA top-up programs through AIB. Prof Liam, Rector – of the University of Pacific, expressed confidence that the program delivered by AIB will be very beneficial.
The event was graced by passed graduates, teachers, and lecturers, the ceremony was hosted by the chief guest and the regional director of ABE(UK) Dr Praveen Mahendran. “The ABE(UK) is one of the long-standing professional awarding bodies from the UK and AIB is proud to be associated with ABE and approved by the awarding body.
Hard work, competency and capability are the values that produce results, through the AIB and its programs these are achievable. Every student is encouraged to show their full potential”.
The distinguished guests were the Vice President of the BNI Pioneer Chapter, Dilan Fonseka. He emphasized, the importance of students gaining experience in entrepreneurial skills and business development by enrolling at BNI. AIB is a member of BNI, which creates multiple opportunities.
About the Academy of International Business: AIB is recognized for its management programs, digital marketing, marketing, and English language programs such as IELTS, and PTE. It’s widely popular among students in search of pursuing business and management courses.The Director of AIB Sri Lanka, Chrishankar Janathanan, expressed the institute’s commitment to providing the best quality education. It’s not only a center that is simply cornered to the education sector but also has focused its efforts on recruitment services and digital agency services.
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