Kategori: Investeringar

Growth in the last five years, growth in 2022 and optimism for 2023. These are some of the main results from the Sweden-Sri Lanka Business Council’s (SSLBC) member survey for 2023. The three most important issues for members are access to skilled labor, clear and predictable rules for import/export and good flight connections.

– The results of the survey are encouraging. The last four years have been challenging for Sri Lanka, from terrorist attacks to a pandemic and a difficult financial situation from 2022. Despite this, our members manage to both maintain and develop their business relations with the country. At the same time, the visa issue is raised by many. To get a work visa to Sweden, the applicant currently has to go twice to the Swedish Embassy in New Delhi. The processing time for ordinary business visas to Sweden has also become longer. This is unsustainable and makes it difficult for member companies,” Jan Campbell, chairman SSLBC.

The member survey was conducted in February 2023 and was answered by 51% of the members. The respondents include companies active in IT, manufacturing, trade, food and tourism. Eight out of ten have been operating in or with Sri Lanka for at least three years.

Nearly six in ten (56%) say that their business in or with Sri Lanka has grown in the last five years. The political and financial turmoil in 2022 has affected members in different ways. Despite the unrest, six out of ten (60%) say that 2022 has been a positive development, while just under two out of ten (17) say that it has been negative. Optimism is also evident among members for 2023, with more than six in ten (64%) expecting their activities in or with Sri Lanka to develop positively during the year.

Members were also asked to rank which issues are most important to them in 2023. In total, seven areas were ranked (the reported figure is the combined result of ’most important’, ’second most important’ and ’third most important’):

1. Availability of skilled labor (67.8%)

2. Clear and predictable import/export rules (42.8%)

3. Air connections (39.3%)

4. Stable payment flows (35.6%)

5. Positive image of Sri Lanka in Swedish media (32.1%)

6. Financing (28.6%)

7. Transportation (28.55%)

– The results on skilled labor are worrying. Sri Lanka has a highly skilled workforce, not least in the IT sector. The political and financial turmoil in 2022, combined with the fact that normal migration stopped when the pandemic had the greatest impact, has had the effect of increasing the emigration of young and skilled workers. This trend needs to be reversed and Swedish companies are contributing with a good working climate and solutions,” says Jan Campbell

Sweden-Sri Lanka Business Council (www.sslbc.se) was founded in 2006 and has 75 members. The members are active in IT, manufacturing, consumer goods and food as well as tourism. In total, members create 3,100 jobs in Sri Lanka, directly and indirectly.

SSLBC’s purpose is to promote trade, friendship, goodwill and understanding between Sweden and Sri Lanka through personal networks and contacts SSLBC strives to facilitate relations between relevant trade organizations, business intermediaries and companies in both countries to stimulate business and trade between Sweden and Sri Lanka.

SSLBC can be contacted via Secretary General Leif Ivan Ohlson. Email: sec.gen@sslbc.se

Tillväxt de senaste fem åren, tillväxt under 2022 och optimism inför 2023. Det är några av huvudresultaten från Sweden-Sri Lanka Business Councils (SSLBC:s) medlemsundersökning för 2023. Medlemmarnas tre viktigaste frågor är tillgång till kompetent arbetskraft, tydliga och förutsägbara regler för import/export och goda flygförbindelser.

https://press.almiinvest.se/posts/pressreleases/almi-invest-investerar-i-n-ink-som-mojliggor

Almi Invest invests SEK 3.3 million in n-Ink, which develops an innovative environmentally friendly ink for printed electronics, such as solar cells. In the issue of a total of SEK 13.3 million, Navigare participates as the main investor. The money will be used to scale up and expand sales as well as for the further development of new environmentally friendly conducting polymers.

Printed electronics, which means that conductors or semiconductors are printed on, for example, paper-based material, are developing at a rapid pace and enable improved and completely new components and technologies in society. They can, for example, be used to create more efficient solar cells, better capacitors and various sensors for the human body in life science. The market for printed electronics is largely driven by climate change and the aim is to create environmentally friendly electronics with great recyclability and with more efficient production methods.

To make good semiconductors, materials that can conduct positive charges and materials that can conduct negative charges are required. The problem, however, is that today there is almost only ink that conducts the current via positive charges.

Now n-Ink has found a solution to this through its new patented ink. The stable ink is based on environmentally friendly substances and conducts current in the form of electrons, which are negative charges.

Behind the innovation is ten years of work by Professor Magnus Berggren and Associate Professor Simone Fabiano and their research team at Linköping University.

• n-Ink’s innovation is groundbreaking and can be compared to when in the 60s a way was found to create transistors and integrated circuits, which was a prerequisite for the entire digital revolution, says Pär Carlshamre, Investment Manager at Almi Invest. During my years and within my technical areas, I have rarely met a company with greater potential than n-Ink.

The company will now further develop and sell its ink to large chemical and electronics companies on the world market. In a first phase, n-Ink focuses on three verticals – polymers, capacitors and solar cells – and already has a number of large customer companies that have purchased smaller quantities for analysis and evaluation.

• We are very happy about this investment, says Johannes Bintinger, CEO of n-Ink. With Navigare and Almi Invest on board, we can now take the next step in our development and seriously start launching our ink on the market. Both investors are also familiar with research-based deep-tech innovations and how to bring them to market.

Almi Invest invests in n-Ink, which enables new solar cells

Almi Invest invests SEK 3.3 million in n-Ink, which develops an innovative environmentally friendly ink for printed electronics, such as solar cells. In the issue of a total of SEK 13.3 million, Navigare participates as the main investor. The money will be used to scale up and expand sales as well as for the further development of new environmentally friendly conducting polymers.

Printed electronics, which means that conductors or semiconductors are printed on, for example, paper-based material, are developing at a rapid pace and enable improved and completely new components and technologies in society. They can, for example, be used to create more efficient solar cells, better capacitors and various sensors for the human body in life science. The market for printed electronics is largely driven by climate change and the aim is to create environmentally friendly electronics with great recyclability and with more efficient production methods.

To make good semiconductors, materials that can conduct positive charges and materials that can conduct negative charges are required. The problem, however, is that today there is almost only ink that conducts the current via positive charges.

Now n-Ink has found a solution to this through its new patented ink. The stable ink is based on environmentally friendly substances and conducts current in the form of electrons, which are negative charges.

Behind the innovation is ten years of work by Professor Magnus Berggren and Associate Professor Simone Fabiano and their research team at Linköping University.

• n-Ink’s innovation is groundbreaking and can be compared to when in the 60s a way was found to create transistors and integrated circuits, which was a prerequisite for the entire digital revolution, says Pär Carlshamre, Investment Manager at Almi Invest. During my years and within my technical areas, I have rarely met a company with greater potential than n-Ink.

The company will now further develop and sell its ink to large chemical and electronics companies on the world market. In a first phase, n-Ink focuses on three verticals – polymers, capacitors and solar cells – and already has a number of large customer companies that have purchased smaller quantities for analysis and evaluation.

• We are very happy about this investment, says Johannes Bintinger, CEO of n-Ink. With Navigare and Almi Invest on board, we can now take the next step in our development and seriously start launching our ink on the market. Both investors are also familiar with research-based deep-tech innovations and how to bring them to market.