ICT and start-up orgs gravely concerned by the declaration of a state of emergency

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More than 160 organisations representing the ICT and start-up community in Sri Lanka on Monday said they were gravely concerned by the declaration of the state of emergency by President saying this was not the solution to the present social economic situation while urging the government open a dialogue between the political leadership and the country's constituents.

The organisations, in a signed statement, said they represent the product, services, and start-up companies of the ICT ecosystem in Sri Lanka. It said this community is a free and an independent group of industry leaders who deeply value their civil liberties. Sri Lanka’s digital economy represents approximately 4.37 per cen 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,” the statement said.

Extracts of the statement:

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 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 start-ups 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.

Signatories to the statement:

Harsha Purasinghe	Microimage
Jeevan Gnanam	Veracity/Hatch
Mangala Karunaratne	Calcey Technologies
Lankan Angel Network	Lankan Angel Network
Council for Startups of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce	Council for Startups of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce
Fathhi Mohamed	Dishserve
Chandima Cooray	ayubo.life
Shahani Markus	Emojot
Aloka Gunasekara	Rebel Tusker (Private) Limited
Dinusha Kornkaduwa	Augustory Corp
Eranga Weeraratne	Omobio
Oshadie Korale	XpressJobs
Sanjiva Weerwarana	WSO2
Brindha Selvadurai	Hatch Pvt Ltd
Randhula de Silva	Good Life X
Nathan Sivagananathan	Hatch Pvt Ltd
Rohith Pradeep	SAKS Global
Yohan Wijesiriwardane	PAYable
Mustafa Kassim	Roar Global
Dhanusha Muthukumarana	POTENZA PVT Limited
Raveen Wijayatilake	InGame Esports / Gamer.LK
Alagan Mahalingam	Rootcode Labs
Hasith Yaggahavita	99x
Suresh Tharmarajah	ZILLIONe
Gazzaly	Maxsolpro Pvt Ltd
Hasitha Liyanage	:Different
Dulitha Wijewantha	Cabbage Apps
Sivanathan Pragalathen	Peercore Nexgen (Pvt) Ltd
Nuzhi Meyen	Helios P2P
Jude Kumar	EatMe Global
Eyas Fazul	RHODA
Chameera Wijebandara	LiveRoom (Pvt) Ltd.
Tharindu Malawaraarachchi	Fcode Labs
Theekshana Kumara	VizuaMatix
Jayakrishnan Rajagopalasarma	Arogya Life Systems
Anojan Kaneshathas	Apptimus Tech
Wellington Perera	Virtulink Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.
Upendra Pieris	OREL IT Pvt Ltd
Enosh Praveen	Arteculate Asia
Farhard Hussain	Cemex Software (Pvt) Ltd.
Ziyam Kamil	Cenmetrix (Pvt) Ltd.
Jaikishen Jayesingha	Urbandine
Prashanth Premakumar	Agrithmics (Pvt)Ltd
Prasad Siriwardena	Sterling BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd
Wasaam Ismail	Loops Integrated
Lakshan De Silva	SpectrifyAI
Fairooz Habeeb	Silverleap
Indu Nanayakkara	Impactr.
Ravith Silva	ingenieurskunst PVT ltd
Chathini Uduwana	Typefi Systems
Harsha Abegunasekara	Metana
Sanjaya Ratnayake	Pixel Clear (Pvt ) ltd
Kalinga Gunawardhana	Ceydigital
Roshaan Ranasinghe	Tribefunds
Ajith Pasqual	Paraqum Technologies (Pvt) Ltd
Mohammed Fawaz	Curveup (PVT) LTD
Visharathan Kugamoorthy	Creo 360 (Pvt) Ltd
Prathlosh Paramasivam	Tectera (Pvt) Ltd
Mohammed Mafaz	Show & Tell (Pvt) Ltd
Aabith Sabeer	Simplebooks (Pvt) Ltd
Tharaka De Alwis	Your Team in Asia
Buddhishan Manamperi	Fcode Labs
Shavini Fernando	OxiWear.Inc
Shenali de Silva	Good Life X
Johann De Cruz	BISTEC Global Services Pvt Ltd
Imesh Liyanage	TekSek Cyber Security
Matti Hiob	Atlas Labs
Dhyresh Mendis	The Nescius
Irfan Ahmed	Innovation Quotient
Midushaun Rhodes	Not Another Agency
Tharindu Meepegama	IDawn Technologies
Mary Prabashi Fonseka	Bashi Media
Sabir Esufali	Shopbox
Heminda Jayaweera	venture frontier lanka
Aisha Wahab	Arteculate Asia
Saliya Withana	Enfection
Ziyam Abdeen	WinSYS Networks
Sachin Wickramasinghe	Thyaga
Madushanka Wanigasuriya	Adeona Technologies
Gayantha De Zoysa	Strive
Prasad Samarasinghe	Bellvantage
Andrew Jebaraj	Rocketeer Labs
Shivani A. Tyronne	Miris by Islandmom
Sashini Jinasena	Leo The Label (Pvt) Ltd
Surangi Perera	Island Nation (pvt) Ltd
Ismail sadurdeen	Univiser Pvt Ltd
Manesh Jayawardhana	Ceyentra Technologies
Chamira Prasad Jayasinghe	Arimac Lanka Pvt Ltd
Shavin Peiries	Very Bad Wizards
Bhagya Sandakelum	Blue Fish. lk (Pvt) Ltd
Nuha Ghouse	Tutopiya
Hiranya Samarasekera	CODICE
Wajira Wanigasekera	VSONE
Kaniahka Weeramunda	PayMedia
Sasindu Pathirana	DirectPay
Nelisa Algama	SquareHub
Joey Perera	BoostMetrics
Nimeshanan Kulendra	LearnWare (Pvt) Ltd
Zainab Miskin	Lilac Kukuns - Relationship Wellness Boutique
Jehan Wijesinghe	ProductTavern
Umanda Jayobandara	Ifonix
Kirlosh Warran	Leaap Media (Pvt) Ltd
Sankalpa Gamwarige	Nagarro
Sara Nazoor	ALKE Sri Lanka - Handmade Jewelry
Khalid Anver	Trad X
Oenone Mills	Night Shades Stationery
Shenuka Umagiliya	Balamu Enterprises Ltd
Mangalee Goonetilleke	ReMAtics
Irosha de Silva	CreativeHub
Hansa Wijayausndara	Octopus BI
Damitha Jayarathna	Softcodeit
Sanjaya Elvitigala	eLearning.lk
Roshan Nilaweera	GEC Lanka
Kithmal Warnasooriya	Elysian Crest
John Sriskandarajah	Telexar Technologies
Christiaan Quyn	DataSprig Pvt LTD
Tina Lobo	True
Duminda Dharmadasa
Nithushan Uthayakumar	Blue lotus 360 Pvt LtD
Umavisakan Nathan	Blue Lotus X International Pvt Ltd
Dhanika Perera	PayHere
Alister Joseph	Nova Corp
Suren Pinto	Wavenet International Pvt Ltd
Zulfer Jiffry	PickMe
Lahiru Parhmalal	Takas.lk
Prasad Hettiarachchi	Agaya Holdings (Private) Limited
Tharanga Perera	Sana Commerce Pvt Ltd
Migara Amithodhana	Magicbit
Sumedha Rubasinghe	Entgra (Pvt) Ltd
Sajini Jayawardena	Impactr.
Amjad Nazeer
Joel Damien
Dilanka Asiri	VeracityDev
Rifadh Simshek	Akto Solutions
CD Athuraliya	ConscientAI
Dilshan Kathriarachchi	Half Life
Izzath Bisthamy	Akto Solutions
Isuru prasad	Aeturnum
Abdul Mujeeb	FGC
Thangarajah Thavaruban	Speed IT net
Kevin Sundar Raj	A P T R Development (Pvt) Ltd
Damian Perrin Vanniasinkam	Etenders.lk (Pvt) Ltd
Rumaiza Refai	Urban Colour Junkie
Chaminda Kandamby	Superb Business solutions (pvt)Ltd
Amaar Adamaly	The Effect Sri Lanka
Anjale Jayawardena	The Effect Sri Lanka
Thiyagaraj Somasundaram	EatMe Global
Omar Fatha Rally	Tellida
Nalina Wijesundara	Techlabs Global (Pvt) Ltd
Owin CK	Empire Clothing Club (Pvt) Ltd.
Safiya Sideek	Elements by Safiya
Sahan Ranasinghe	Sanota (Pvt.) Ltd
Anuradha Weeraman	ConceptVines
Amizhthini Nakkeeran	Aze IT Consultancy (Pvt) ltd
Anuruddha Rajapaksha	Serendib Systems
Roshanali Amarasekera	Spark 360 (Pvt) Ltd / Ceylon Organic House
Ijaz Ahamed Ilyas	Royal Sulaiha Holdings
Yusra Aziz Eliyas	Podi Jobs
Ishara Kotagama	Plava Pvt. Ltd.
Newan Vinthusa	Code94 Labs Pvt. Ltd
Anjana Somathilake	Nuclei Technologies (Private) Limited
Ayami Wanasinghe	FI Sri Lanka
Randika Cooray	Lucytech (Pvt)Ltd
Sanna Khaled	Lucytech (Pvt)Ltd

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