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Good practice Imported

SLASSCOM — Sri Lanka's National IT-BPM Chamber Driving Sector-Wide Company Growth

Sri Lanka · Colombo · See the Sri Lanka profile · See the Colombo profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 29% 76/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Founded in 2008, Sri Lanka's SLASSCOM chamber has helped grow the national IT-BPM sector from about 170 firms and 33,700 jobs in 2007 to 680+ companies and roughly 175,000 workers by 2025, per Sri Lanka's Export Development Board and industry reporting.

238%
Sector revenue growth since 2007 (2007-2025)
33,700 (2007) to ~175,000 (2025)
Employment
~170 (2007) to 680+ (2025)
Number of firms
~$2 billion
Sector exports (2025)
$50 million
World Bank Digital Transformation project
SLASSCOM — Sri Lanka's National IT-BPM Chamber Driving Sector-Wide Company Growth

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
SLASSCOM (Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies)
Period
2008-2026
Keywords
IT-BPM, software services, digital economy, industry association, workforce development

Context

SLASSCOM (Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies) was founded in 2008 and is based in Colombo as the national chamber for the country's IT and business-process-management (BPM) industry, with a mandate spanning trade facilitation, education and employment pipelines, research and innovation, and national policy advocacy for member companies.

Activities

SLASSCOM runs a Women Technopreneurs Forum with the IFC focused on gender inclusion, alongside its broader industry-coordination and advocacy work; the World Bank has since approved a $50 million Sri Lanka Digital Transformation project building on this base.

Results

According to Sri Lanka's Export Development Board and SLASSCOM's own State of the Industry reporting, sector revenue grew 238% from its 2007 baseline; employment rose from 33,700 workers in 2007 to 75,100 in 2013 and to roughly 175,000 by 2025; the number of firms grew from about 170 in 2007 to over 220 by 2013 and more than 680 by 2025. By 2025 the sector reached about $2 billion in exports — roughly 45% of Sri Lanka's services exports and its third-largest export sector overall.

Conclusions

Sri Lanka's Central Bank has noted that official export figures likely understate the industry's true size, since many member companies book revenue overseas rather than as registered Sri Lankan exports. At the same time, an earlier SLASSCOM target — $5 billion in exports and 200,000 jobs by 2022 — was not met on schedule, a reminder that the sector's own growth projections have historically run ahead of delivery.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Operates as a membership-funded industry chamber; specific programmes (e.g. Women Technopreneurs Forum) run jointly with IFC.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Continuous operation since 2008, with growth tracked through 2025.
Staffing & skills
SLASSCOM (Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies) secretariat, Member IT-BPM companies, Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB), World Bank and IFC (partnership programmes)

Conditions for success

  • Sustained multi-year industry coordination and policy advocacy
  • Government/EDB data partnership for tracking sector growth
  • International partnerships (World Bank, IFC) to extend financing and inclusion programmes

Common failure modes

  • Sri Lanka's Central Bank notes official export figures likely understate true industry size due to overseas revenue booking
  • An earlier SLASSCOM growth target ($5bn exports, 200,000 jobs by 2022) was not met on schedule

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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