Meet 15-year-old entrepreneur who markets flip flops

Fifteen-year-olds are not expected to be business savvy – under normal circumstances. For Madison Robinson, the 15-year-old daughter of a former banker, entrepreneurship could not have come early enough; which just goes to show that talent must combine with the right idea at the right place at the right time.

Dell empowers customers with innovative technology solutions

Dell this week announced its capacity to offer more innovative technology solutions and services...

Doing business in Sri Lanka: Is it a Red Ocean?

Sri Lanka’s rank on the World Bank’s well respected Ease of Doing Business Index (covering 185 economies) improved considerably over the last year. Vaulting from 96th in the world to 81st, an improvement of 15 places, is no mean feat.

Sri Lanka – China bilateral relations building on robust and durable foundation

Sri Lanka and China have had historical links that can be traced back several centuries. The Rubber-Rice Pact (1952) was a major watershed in forging close, cordial and durable relations in the post-independence era.

From crisis to sustenance : Responding together - Enabling others to act

Bill Gates was once asked to describe his personal best. After a few moments, Bill said he couldn’t do it. He said, “It wasn’t my personal best. It was our personal best. It wasn’t me.

Dos and don’ts in stock market

The stable and growing stock market in Sri Lanka has attracted new investors while existing investors continue to invest. The current momentum in the market would prevail only if all types of risk a market is vulnerable to is kept under manageable limits.

Uniting empowered women: First-ever Forbes Women’s Summit

There are many ways the world could be changed – at least if not the world, then maybe one individual...

Export expansion: Key to sustain accelerated growth

Sri Lanka’s exports have declined from 33 percent of GDP in 2000 to 16 percent in 2012. In addition, Sri Lanka’s share of global exports have also declined (this reflects clearly a decline in competitiveness).

Sri Lanka missing world’s biggest trade party and it’s in her backyard

Once upon a time, Sri Lanka was at the forefront of South Asian trade liberalisation. Beginning in 1989, Sri Lanka made large reductions in import duties and by 2001, Sri Lanka’s average applied import duty was down to 9.1 percent compared to India’s 32 percent and Pakistan’s 20 percent.

Onshore potential for oil and gas in Sri Lanka

The island of Sri Lanka is underlain with Precambrian rocks of Achaean age about 3500 – 1500 million years (MY) old with a few granites of Cambrian age - about 540 MY old.

Gold faces more pressure as inflation stays tame

Gold prices are looking even more vulnerable after April’s price crash, as rampant inflation expected from successive rounds of monetary easing fails to materialize. The idea that record-low interest rates would damage paper currencies and boost inflation was a key factor pushing gold to record highs

Natural Rubber future appears uncertain

NR market’s slow growth in recent times, after the unrealistic boom in the beginning of this decade, is mainly due to a lull in demand across the globe. The issue is whether NR prices will bounce back or will continue to be very volatile.

US research study spells boom for Lanka’s cinnamon industry

Results of a scientific research study just released in the US and publicized by news media worldwide present a game-changing bonanza for Sri Lanka’s cinnamon industry needs.

South Asians rely on informal money transfers: Study

PTI: Nearly 800 million South Asians and Indonesians sent or received a payment or remittance last year with a majority of them doing so informally, according to a new Gallup study.

Achieving faster progress in education and health

Economic growth is front-page news everywhere. But experience tells us that the link between income and human development is far from assured. Worldwide, countries with similar per capita incomes have had quite different achievements in basic education or basic health.

NDB poised to take on growth opportunities and support emerging entrepreneurs: Official

Following are the excerpts of an exclusive interview Daily Mirror had with NDB Vice President and Head of Corporate Banking Buwanekabahu Perera.

Sampath Bank plans aggressive market share expansion with e-remittance facility

Sampath Bank plans to aggressively expand market share with its e-remittance facility, having already gathered significant momentum through the course of last year, according to the bank’s Marketing and Business Development Deputy General Manager Tharaka Ranwala.

Step-by-step guide to invest in stock market

The fundamentals of world economics have shifted from commodity markets to financial markets. Hence, financial markets play a pivotal role in wealth creation, economic development and economic equality.

Challenging the process: Stepping into the unknown

George Bernard Shaw once said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

New Xbox One unveiled as home entertainment hub

Microsoft on Tuesday staked a claim to the Internet Age living room with an eagerly awaited new generation Xbox...

Make the Change- Agile Human Resource Management

Adaptability and Responsiveness is a highly acclaimed characteristic in business world.  Changing customer needs and mounting competition can only be won by managerswho can lead their workers to respond the changers in an agile manner.

Biodiversity for sustainable development: Sri Lankan perspective

There is growing recognition of the fact that biological resources and diversity are vital to humankind’s economic and social development. It is accepted that diversity is a global asset of tremendous value, and that it needs to be preserved for future generations.

Electricity protests: Losing trust and unplugging the refrigerator

Matthew Arnold’s famous poem, Dover Beach, ends with a rather despairing couplet, “Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, / Where ignorant armies clash by night.”

No end to poverty without better governance

In April the World Bank governors endorsed two historic goals: to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to ensure that prosperity is shared. It will take a lot to end poverty: strong growth, more infrastructure investments, increased agricultural productivity, better business environments, jobs, good education, and quality health care.

Hard choices countries have to make

Some time back I attended a London Business School (LBS) Management Lab session, where the topic for discussion was, why some countries manage to achieve economic prosperity that helps them to escape the perils of poverty, while many other countries fail in this respect and continue to be trapped in poverty.

Eliminate waste - The Toyota way

TIMWOOD is an acronym for the famous Seven Wastes identified by Toyota, presented in a user-friendly manner by Taiichi Ohno, the then Chief Engineer at Toyota. They are the basics of what we learned in.....

Full-steam ahead in push for Sri Lanka’s shipping hub

The last time Sri Lanka built a breakwater to protect its fleet of ships, the teardrop-shaped island off the coast of India, was called Ceylon and was still under colonial rule.

What Asia can learn from Europe’s mistakes

A Chinese proverb tells us that it is wise to learn from y our own mistakes but wiser to learn from the mistakes of others. Asian leaders should take this advice to heart as they juggle between policies for social welfare and economic dynamism.

Pre-emptive marketing strategies help DPL to post Rs.379 mn net profit

A significant contraction in finance costs enabled Hayleys Group subsidiary, Dipped Products...

Tax incentives to attract investments: Time to rethink?

This article draws from a new Research Working Paper by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) titled ‘Incentivizing Foreign Investment in Sri Lanka and the Role of Tax Incentives’ by Anushka Wijesinha, Raveen Ekanayake and Gajen Mahendra. The publication is now available at IPS and leading bookstores.