29th August H.E Ambassador Fonseka hosted members of SSLBC for afternoon tea at the embassy in Stockholm.
SSLBC extend our heartfelt thanks for inviting our members to the delightful afternoon tea yesterday. The event was highly appreciated by all attendees and serves as a solid foundation for continued collaboration.
The Business Council eagerly anticipates future joint engagements in Stockholm and other parts of Sweden, fostering our mutual objectives and strengthening our partnership.
Additionally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the embassy staff for their impeccable organisation and warm hospitality. Their efforts significantly contributed to the success of the event.
We offer different categories of membership. This time we would like to introduce one Swedish private member and one associated member from Sri Lanka.
Mats Thorner from Sweden is a new member of SSLBC. Mats is working together with our new associated member Sachin Lakshitha.
Mats is a senior freelance journalist, marketing specialist, and photographer.
Sachin is a skilled specialist in photo and video editing, among other areas.
They have collaborated on various projects over the past 5-6 years. They tell us that they are currently planning to launch a 3D printing service in Sri Lanka.
We hope that their membership will be of mutual benefit to them and all other members of SSLBC.
Welcome to the fast-growing network of companies and individuals doing business between Sweden and Sri Lanka!
MobilityGuard is a Swedish IT company that has been developing secure login solutions for companies and the public sector for over 20 years. The company is a member of SSLBC and works with Sri Lanka through business relationships and through a project for early identification of vision problems in school children. Niklas Karlsson is senior executive business developer and globally responsible for relations. He has previously worked within the Volvo Group and Volvo Cars in a role that involved working with company boards and management.
What does MobilityGuard do?
For more than 20 years, we have been developing solutions for secure login in various IT environments. Our login solution is clientless and it is therefore possible to log in from any computer. Our customers include companies, authorities and municipalities. All Swedes use our login solutions at Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) and the Swedish Tax Agency.
Sweden is a world leader in digital identification and MobilityGuard’s goal is to become the global leader within five years. France, the UK and Germany are among our largest markets, but we also have an office in Bogota, Colombia. The ambition over time is to make Sri Lanka our Asian node.
What is the background to the engagement with Sri Lanka?
The answer has several parts. My mother is Sri Lankan and I have travelled to Sri Lanka every year since I was a baby. One year ago, MobilityGuard’s management team was introduced to the CEO of leading Sri Lankan IT company Oral IT at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Stockholm. We started a constructive dialogue and today we are close partners and the company uses our solutions in its systems.
In the long term, the ambition is to open an office in Colombo. Former Ambassador to Sweden Dharshana M. Perera has played a key role in the collaboration, including in the development of the children’s book that will contribute to the early identification of visual impairment in school children. For our founder and CEO Johan Sundström, it’s important to be able to contribute in this way too.
What does the membership of the Sweden-Sri Lanka Business Council mean?
It means a lot. We get access to a superior network and country and subject specific expertise. Most recently, I participated in a networking event in Gothenburg that provided new knowledge, insights and ideas. It is clear that those working in SSLBC are passionate about what they do.
3 quick questions to Frank Dandy about moving production to Sri Lanka
Since 2017, Daniel Hörnqvist has been the CEO of the Swedish fashion brand Frank Dandy. When he took over, he brought with him extensive experience from e-commerce and the outdoor market. This included responsibility for the launch of the e-commerce brand Bikester in the Nordic region in 2013. In 2015 he took on a position as board member at Frank Dandy before moving on to an executive role. One of the most important decisions in recent years for Frank Dandy has been to move manufacturing to Sri Lanka.
What is Frank Dandy’s market position?
We address a clearly defined target group between 20 and 30 years of age outside the metropolitan areas. The target group has a desire to achieve high personal goals and we provide secret superpowers to enable that. This promise permeates all our communication, not at least the visual. We are mainly present in the Nordic region and work with the same brand position in all geographical markets. A solid sustainability practice is also extremely important to us, especially from an employer brand perspective. Frank Dandy is affiliated with the initiative Better cotton and we only use recycled polyester in our swimwear. I would also like to mention our ownership program for our employees.
Why did you move manufacturing to Sri Lanka?
The decision to move manufacturing from China was made with the experience of the pandemic and in light of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We needed to increase our geopolitical preparedness. I had met lot of positive mentioning about manufacturing in Sri Lanka and as well had my own personal experience from a surf trip a few years earlier. Since the move to Sri Lanka, our experience has been consistently positive. The Sri Lankan manufacturing industry is technically advanced, and we can follow the manufacturing of our products in real time from Sweden. The Sri Lankan manufacturing industry’s sustainability ambitions are high, both in terms of renewable electricity use and in the development of sustainable wastewater systems from production. The country is buzzing with growth and the high level of education is evident in everything.
What has the membership of the Sweden-Sri Lanka Business Council meant?
The membership was an incredible door opener when we were in the process of evaluating whether to move manufacturing to Sri Lanka. It helped us build relationships that I don’t think would have been possible otherwise. To spread our risks, we moved our manufacturing gradually and without the support of the SSLBC it would have been much more complicated.
8th Feb Sweden Sri Lanka Business Council – SSLBC arranged an extended members meeting. Plus 60 Swedish and Sri Lankan business people met for dinner and a speech by former Swedish ambassador Lars-Olof Lindgren. Honorary General Consul Sanjay Kulatange was one of the guests as well. Secretary General Leif I Ohlson welcomed the guests and mentioned that this year Sweden and Sri Lanka celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations and that the council wanted to kickstart this important year.
Ambassador Lindgren spoke about the strong relations between the two countries and also looked into the future.
Later this year Swedish Embassy in New Dehli will arrange an event in Colombo to celebrate more officially.
Pics by nilanthaphotography@gmail.com
Ambassador Lars-Olof LindgrenSecretary General Leif I OhlsonMount Lavinia Hotel
Mer än 100 svenska företag har direkt eller indirekt del av sin IT-utveckling på Sri Lanka.
Flera av våra medlemmar i Sweden-Sri Lanka Business Council arbetar med IT och bistår svenska företag med deras utveckling. SSLBC har också medlemmar som startat egna dotterbolag på Sri Lanka dit större delen av företagets IT-utveckling är förlagd.
Tag gärna kontakt med någon eller några av medlemmarna för att lära dig mer om hur IT-offshore fungerar eller hur du bäst etablerar en filial på Sri Lanka.