July 15, Colombo (LNW): The Human Capital Summit was an idea of President Ranil Wickramasinghe when he was Prime Minister. He wanted to create a platform to bring all the key actors together to final solutions to our skills challenges.
The 2016 summit brought forth some thought-provoking conversations among key decision makers in the country which resulted in several breakthrough ideas which benefited the policy makers. The reports are available on NHRDC.lk.
Some of the proposals were presented and implemented within the Private & Public sectors. Sri Lanka needs to build a strong sustainable export economy which is competitive amidst rapidly growing emerging economies in Asia.
Therefore, a skilled talent workforce will have to be in place within a short period in order to make Sri Lanka a preferred business and investment destination.
A well-educated and skilled workforce is essential for driving economic growth through productivity gains and innovation.
Therefore, Sri Lanka needs to make significant strides in improving its education system, an educated populace will provide a strong foundation for economic development.
Unfortunately Sri Lanka has lost millions of trained talent to developed countries.
Sri Lanka experienced a significant loss of young talent in 2022. This loss of young talent poses significant long-term challenges for Sri Lanka, including a potential slowdown in innovation, reduced economic growth, and a weakened talent pool for future development of the country.
To address these challenges Sri Lanka needs to stabilise its economy, improve governance, and create conditions that make staying and contributing to the local economy attractive for its young professionals.
Retaining young educated workers is a critical challenge for Sri Lanka, requiring a multifaceted approach. The Human Capital Summit 2024 on the 18 th will focus on strategies that have worked to reverse the brain drain and also on key short term strategies that can can help build a strong talent pool in the shortest possible time for selected key sectors in the Sri Lankan Economy.
