SLASSCOM launches foundation to nurture technology inclusivity

The Sri Lanka Association for Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM) has embarked on yet another pioneering initiative, this time to achieve its goal of social transformation, creating an impact through technology, by launching the SLASSCOM Foundation. 

Positioned as the Sustainability and ESG chapter of the chamber, the Foundation’s aim is to establish technology inclusivity and technology-enabled growth and development in the country, including urban and rural areas, targeting students, industry practitioners and businesses. 

This aligns with the key goals of the chamber to establish 1,000 start-ups, facilitate 200,000 highly skilled professionals and grow the IT/BPM industry into a US$ 5 billion export-centric ecosystem by 2025.  

The logo with the tagline “Sri Lanka Tech for Good”, representing the values of the Foundation was officially launched recently, portraying a flower, built around the letter ‘S’, with each petal depicting the key focus areas.

These range from helping individuals enhance their lives, supporting the growth of business entities through technology adoption, inclusion and diversity, enabling growth of the IT/BPM sector and training the next generation of individuals across the country in accessing opportunities to pursue lucrative careers in the IT/BPM industry. 

 The Foundation will also work on supporting women empowerment in the industry through a wide array of initiatives planned by its Women Technopreneurs Forum, that includes mentoring and development programmes to accelerate the growth of start-ups within the country and to connect them to global business opportunities. The Foundation will also focus on promoting sustainability through industry related Environmental, Social and Governance objectives to help the IT/BPM sector adopt and advance their ESG journey, through awareness sessions, mentoring programmes with industry leading experts and educational projects to promote the sustainable use of resources, technology and energy, leading to ESG compliance. 

With investors increasingly applying non-financial factors as part of their analysis process to identify material risks and growth opportunities, this initiative underscores the importance that SLASSCOM exerts on creating an environmentally and economically sustainable future-ready industry. 

As its first major public contribution as a charitable foundation, the SLASSCOM Foundation partnered with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to donate a number of Oxygen Delivery Devices to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (IDH), valued at over Rs. 2.4 million.

SLASSCOM was supported in this initiative by Metatechno Lanka, 24/7 Techies, Yaala Labs, ShipXpress - Kaleris Company, Swivel Group, PWC Sri Lanka, Intervest and Patrick Rode, an individual contributor.