In an interview with the BOI, Annette Heimlicher, CEO of Contrinex AG said the one strength of Sri Lanka is a good education system and at Moratuwa University there are about 200 engineering graduates annually but very few stay in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka therefore needs companies that can stop the brain drain.
She said that Sri Lanka can become a very competitive destination with lower labour cost, easier customs and airport handling, low corporate and personal taxes and an efficient administration. Sri Lanka is located strategically between Europe and China and is thus close to all our key markets. Those are some of the existing strengths of Sri Lanka which can be further developed to make the country attractive to many Swiss investors. We feel very positive about the development of Sri Lanka as a place for investments.
"In Sri Lanka we have employed 60 workers and this will increase to 100 by the end of the year. So we are looking at hiring more people", she added.
"We decided to invest in Sri Lanka because of the availability of certain type of wiring which is manufactured by a company already investing here which is used in Contrinex products. They make the electronic print in Sri Lanka. We work with them already in China they were impressed with the quality of work in Sri Lanka," she said.
"The advantage of Sri Lanka is that you have low cost, high quality and loyal and good people working in the country. Also we find people at all levels of skills in Sri Lanka and they can be easily recruited. It is much easier in Sri Lanka to find the complete staffing requirements of a company. Therefore, we were able to open our factory in just two and half months. We hired 50 people in a mere 3 weeks," Ms. Heimlicher added.
Commending the assistance of the Sri Lanka's investment promotion agency, the Contrinex AG CEO said Sri Lanka can become a very competitive destination with lower labor cost, easier customs and airport handling, low corporate and personal taxes and an efficient administration.
"Sri Lanka is located strategically between Europe and China and is thus close to all our key markets. Those are some of the existing strengths of Sri Lanka which can be further developed to make the country attractive to many Swiss investors. We feel very positive about the development of Sri Lanka as a place for investments," Ms. Heimlicher said.
Currently Contrinex invest in China and India but in the future the company plans to produce in Sri Lanka and re-export to its global logistic hubs.
Ms. Heimlicher said Sri Lanka is an ideal location because they expect that very soon GSP + will be granted to Sri Lanka which means their products can be exported to Europe with very low customs duties.
"We are also highly interested in seeing a FTA between Sri Lanka and China so in the future we will have the opportunity to export easily to that large market," she added.
The CEO further noted that Sri Lanka needs large industrial parks with ready-made factories and ready-made dormitories for workers. That would make the country more competitive to European investors, she added.
"The most difficult part is to find production space that is suitable. We were extremely lucky that we found a place in Wattala and we decided to rent the place which is brand new. Many companies want to rent ready-made factories initially. In the future they can build facilities of their own. Swiss companies are interested in Sri Lanka but they need approvals, space and other factors, ideally in a one stop shop. We are not a very large company. Current turnover is US$ 65 million. But we have very high skills and specific focus and I consider that we are leaders in the industry. We need to develop a new network of suppliers to create a sort of Silicon Valley in Sri Lanka," the Contrinex CEO said.
"I would like to add that BOI has been very helpful with customs. We are already investing in the country. We are looking at attracting more Swiss and German companies", Ms. Heimlicher said. She also spoke about the importance of having a direct air link between Sri Lanka and Switzerland and said that she hopes that Sri Lankan Airlines will decide once again to connect Zurich to Colombo in the near future.
Contrinex, based in Fribourg, Switzerland is a global manufacturer of inductive and photoelectric sensors, RFID systems and safety light curtains. The company is a technology leader in the field of intelligent sensing and identification solutions for factory automation, including the harshest operating conditions and most extreme space limitations.
