Emerging Media invests LKR 100mn

Sri Lanka's digital advertising company Emerging Media has invested 100 million rupees in XpressJobs in exchange for a 25 percent stake, a statement said. "Before we met, we were competitors but we realized the full potential of that collaboration. We believe in the technology with which XpressJobs works and envision great progress," said Sanjeewa Rajapakshe, the emerging Media Founder and Managing Director.

Commenced in 2016, the job finder website had a revenue growth of 60 percent in 2019. "The visibility of companies advertising with XpressJobs on the 200 plus locations in which Emerging Media is present will also greatly increase," Rajapakshe said. The agreement signed by Rajapakshe, emerging media director Tyner Fernando, chief executive of XpressJobs Chatham Henegama and chief operating officer of XpressJobs Oshadie Korale.

Henegama said the company plans to introduce more subscription options that will give customers access to a broader range of XpressJobs services. "We want to be the job site that a corporation will visit to hire employees to a Chief Executive from ground staff. We want to reach out to people of all ages and all socio-economic backgrounds in Sri Lanka besides increasing our marketing and product growth," he said.

XpressJobs has also introduced a CV-less application system for job seekers without a CV, an SMS service designed to make walk-in interviews more efficient as well as online timed tests that make the recruitment process useful for both the recruiter and the applicant in the hiring process.

Over 3,600 clients including top companies such as HSBC, Dialog Axiata, Hemas and the John Keells group, have been attracted and retained by the firm. Investments in emerging media include Pay Here, an online payment system for local companies, Cooking TV, Emerging Events and Out of Home Media.

OSL Take: The government of Sri Lanka is committed to developing the country’s ICT sector and is heavily engaged in developing digital infrastructure. The Sri Lankan government has introduced many incentives to promote the industry. All these have expanded the business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors.

The Telecommunications Ministry is finalizing a digital identification card international tender. Over $55 million total costs will cover nearly the entire population. Another business/investment opportunity for foreign businesses/investors looking to enter the Sri Lankan economy is the Lotus Tower project of Sri Lanka.

The emphasis on developing Sri Lanka's digital infrastructure and enhancing its ICT sector will not only enable the country to become a digitized economy but will also provide enterprising individuals with ample opportunities to invest, innovate and introduce new techniques into this sector. Furthermore, Sri Lanka Telecom's launch of the ' National Digital Roadmap ' would pave the way for the digital journey of Sri Lanka would also open up a host of business/investment opportunities in the digital infrastructure sector of the country.

 VBS/AT/20200303/Z_TB4