7 FEBRUARY I ONE SRI LANKA
CONNECTING SRI LANKANS
Charles De Alwis
Making the shift from survival to living
Over the years, Sri Lankans have ventured far and wide to all parts of the world, notably to countries and regions such as the UK, Australia, Canada and the Middle East.
In a recent LMDtv interview, Charles De Alwis discussed the importance of connecting Sri Lankans to work together towards the next phase of development for the country and its people.
“Sri Lankans as a nation, whether we are based in Sri Lanka or overseas, are connected by cultural aspects, people aspects and others,” he said, noting that “it doesn’t matter where we live, we’re all connected to Sri Lanka in one way or the other.”
“Primarily, Sri Lankans are a very resilient bunch of people and adverse conditions aren’t new to us,” he observed, mentioning that the island has experienced 500 years of colonisation, and post-independence crises – both natural and man-made.
De Alwis asserted that “we have always survived but now, it’s important to get out of that mindset because beyond survival, we need to live.”
“After hitting rock bottom following the Easter Sunday attacks, COVID-19 and the economic crisis, we can’t go down any further. This is a fantastic opportunity to come out of survival mode and into living,” he said, explaining that “this is what other countries have gone through.”
He explained: “Even India hit rock bottom in 1991 and has emerged steadily. East Asian and Southeast Asian countries are developing rapidly because they hit rock bottom, and have come up.”
De Alwis iterated on the importance of communication: “Communication, connections and networking, to me, all of these are the same thing – social intercourse. And it has to happen not only at the government to government or business to business level but all levels.”
“This is where we need to sing from the same hymn sheet as Sri Lankans – not as Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers or Malays, which is secondary,” he stressed.
De Alwis also shared his views on the ongoing brain drain from Sri Lanka to other countries as well as the opposite phenomenon, which he referred to as “brain gain.”
He elaborated: “It’s a double-edged sword because Sri Lanka is connected to the rest of the world and there has to be two-way fluidity so that there can be brain drain and equally, brain gain. It’s a two-way flow.”
“Anyone who wants to leave the country should be free to go and those who want to come back should be free to do so,” he noted, asserting that “the government should encourage and provide incentives to non-resident Sri Lankans to come back and be a part of the economy” – because when expatriate Sri Lankans return, they not only bring themselves and their money but also expertise.”
In his view, “there’s no point in asking Sri Lankans abroad to come back for the retirement money when they’re 65 or 75. We need to encourage people to come back to Sri Lanka for the brain gain aspect.”
He emphasised the need to change the country’s workforce including both blue and white-collar workers, “to suit the growing needs and demands of not only Sri Lanka but the world.”
“We are part of a larger supply chain – we’re a very small link but need to make it very strong,” he added, noting that countries like Singapore, Malaysia and India have become significant links in the world’s supply chain.
De Alwis continued: “We have to learn a lot from how others are doing things but equally, if our politicians and civil servants do not come up with a cohesive plan and implementation for the next 10-15 years on a continual basis, we won’t get out of this problem.”
“I’m an optimist not for the sake of saying it; I always say the glass is half full as opposed to half empty because if it’s half empty and you’re thinking negatively, we can never overcome problems,” he said, concluding that “optimistically, I say we have hit rock bottom and started the journey upwards.”
CV IN A NUTSHELL
Based in London, Charles De Alwis is an experienced solicitor with exposure at board level and C-Suite roles in multinational companies in the UK and Europe. He is a Director and the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce (SLUKCC).
De Alwis was also the first General Secretary of the Association of Professional Sri Lankans (APSL) in the UK in 2004 and elected as its third president for a two-year term.
He has held both executive and non-executive director positions at Ferrari, Maserati, Magneti Marelli, Stellantis-Fiat Auto and CNH Industrial, and continues as a London-based legal advisor to multiple companies – including Maserati, Stellantis-Fiat, Petronas, Datalogic, Denso and some family offices.