By: John S. Morlu II, CPA
Forget tea and beaches. The next Sri Lankan export might be a startup unicorn.
You may know Sri Lanka for its surf, spices, or spirituality…
But what if I told you that tucked behind all that tranquility is a fast-evolving, battle-tested tech ecosystem?
Yes — Silicon Island is a thing now. Sort of.
No, it’s not competing with Bangalore or Silicon Valley just yet.
But for an island that just came out of economic and political crisis, Sri Lanka’s digital pulse is beating stronger than you think.
Let’s break it down.
1. Software is the New Tea
Sri Lanka’s IT/BPM (Information Technology and Business Process Management) industry brought in over $1.8 billion in export revenue in 2023, quietly becoming one of the country’s top five export earners.
And the world is noticing.
- WSO2 — A globally respected open-source integration platform, founded in Sri Lanka.
- hSenid — A homegrown HR tech company now expanding across Africa and Asia.
- Sysco Labs — The Sri Lankan arm of the U.S. Fortune 100 company, building enterprise-grade software out of Colombo.
Thousands of Sri Lankan engineers work for international companies under remote-first arrangements, billing in dollars, spending in rupees, and fueling a new middle class of digital professionals. Quietly, a tech middle class has emerged with dollar salaries, MacBooks, and ambitions that reach far beyond Colombo.
The new “tech tea” includes fintech apps, blockchain labs, mobile payment solutions, and health-tech innovations. Sri Lankan minds are building global tools — with local grit.
2. The Talent Is World-Class (and Surprisingly Humble)
Sri Lanka punches above its weight in engineering, UI/UX, DevOps, and QA talent.
Why?
Because Sri Lankans grow up:
- Multilingual (Sinhala + Tamil + English)
- With high literacy (over 92%, the highest in South Asia)
- Culturally comfortable with both Eastern hierarchy and Western innovation
Universities like the University of Moratuwa, University of Colombo School of Computing, and SLIIT have become global talent incubators, churning out developers who are quietly running the backend of multibillion-dollar platforms.
Also: many ex-Sri Lankans in Silicon Valley, London, and Toronto are now investing back or mentoring from afar — a growing diaspora braintrust.
Fun fact? Some of the key engineers behind global banking, telecom, airline, and AI platforms are Sri Lankan exports. You just didn’t know it.
3. Startups Are Struggling… and Succeeding Anyway
Sri Lanka isn’t a startup paradise. The challenges are real:
- High interest rates
- Currency volatility
- Skeptical investors
- Limited risk appetite
- Sparse early-stage funding
- Bureaucratic friction
But scrappy founders still find a way. The most impressive startups are led by mission-driven, globally-savvy professionals who use grit, not glamour.
Notable ventures:
- PickMe – Sri Lanka’s Uber, but local, cheaper, and more culturally intuitive
- Roar Media – A digital content platform with regional ambitions
- LayUp – An edtech platform scaling across emerging markets
- DirectPay – Challenging international fintechs with homegrown digital payments
There are coworking spaces in Colombo, angel syndicates slowly growing in number, and events like Disrupt Asia and Startup Weekend gaining ground.
Sri Lanka’s startup scene is not about hype. It’s about humility, hustle, and having no Plan B.
4. The Government (Sort Of) Gets It
To be fair, policy hasn’t always kept up.
But the government is making strides:
- ICTA (Information and Communication Technology Agency) has been digitizing services and creating enabling frameworks
- Startup SL has mapped and supported hundreds of early-stage ventures
- BOI incentives exist for tech-based exports and digital investors
- Colombo Port City is pitched as the future “International Financial and Digital Hub” (construction ongoing, policies pending)
Public-sector innovation is slow. But necessity is creating digital urgency — and that’s driving public-private collaboration faster than before.
Every inefficiency is now seen as a business opportunity — from govtech apps to e-tax platforms to digital ID systems.
5. Geo-Strategic Advantage: The Time Zone Sweet Spot
Sri Lanka is in GMT+5:30 — perfect for working with:
- Australia in the morning
- Europe during the day
- U.S. East Coast in the evening
Combine that with low labor costs, fluent English, and strong cultural flexibility — and you get an ideal base for outsourcing, customer support, software development, and back-office processing.
AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, and healthtech are now emerging niches where Sri Lankan engineers and founders are starting to punch above their weight.
The future? Borderless startups based in Sri Lanka, serving global markets.
6. What Needs to Happen Next?
For Sri Lanka to truly become “Silicon Island,” it must:
- Reform capital markets and open up angel/VC flows
- Improve access to FX and repatriation tools for SaaS companies
- Cut red tape on startup registration, taxes, and forex handling
- Invest in AI, deep-tech R&D, and emerging technologies
- Create incentives for women and rural communities in tech
- Encourage diaspora investment beyond remittances
- Offer sandbox environments for fintech and govtech pilots
- Teach digital entrepreneurship from school to university
And perhaps most importantly: allow failure.
Right now, business culture is risk-averse. For a true tech ecosystem to thrive, failure must become part of the journey — not a permanent label.
✨ Final Thought: Tea and Code, Side by Side
A country that once exported Ceylon Tea, cricket legends, and civil war trauma — is now exporting digital infrastructure, design thinking, and raw ingenuity.
You can still sip your tea on a porch.
But now, that porch has fiber-optic internet and a cloud backend.
That’s the new Sri Lanka.
Ancient soul. Digital mind. Global ambition.
About the Author
John is an entrepreneur, strategist, and founder of JS Morlu, LLC, a Virginia based CPA firm with multiple software ventures including www.FinovatePro.com, www.Recksoft.com and www.Fixaars.com . With operations spanning multiple countries, John is on a mission to build global infrastructure that empowers small businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals to thrive in an increasingly competitive world. He believes in hard truths, smart execution, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. When he’s not writing or building, he’s challenging someone to a productivity contest—or inventing software that automates it.