SL urged to position itself as Silicon Valley-esque IT hub

By Madushka Balasuriya

The last time Jan Metzger sat down to speak to Daily FT, back in 2017, he spoke of how Sri Lanka was on the cusp of an explosion in innovation. While he is still confident that that prediction will hold true, his most recent visit – his first after being made Head of BCMA (Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory) for

Citi Head of BCMA Asia Pacific region Jan Metzger – Pic by Lasantha Kumara

Citi in the Asia Pacific region – saw him urging Sri Lanka to do even more in terms of bringing back highly skilled individuals to the country. 

Metzger, who is back at a strong time for the bank’s local franchise – celebrating’s its 40th anniversary of operations this year in one of its busiest on record – also said it was important that Sri Lanka positioned itself further as a hub similar to Silicon Valley in the United States, and build on the strong global support offered by Citi.

“In 2019 we have already helped raise close to $ 4 b for the Government via successful international bond transactions. Orders for these of over $ 13 b also underlined the continued global investor support for the country,” said Metzger in an exclusive interview.

“Sri Lanka’s a great place to live, you have a skilled labour force and unbelievable experience with Sri Lankans’ working for the largest companies in the world at senior levels. Also in the modern world, for many types of companies, it doesn’t matter where you are based – Sri Lanka can be an important hub – Sri Lanka needs to seize the moment.

“If you today want to run a business to consumer internet application, you don’t necessarily need to be based in any location, because you’re interacting with your users over the net, you need good programming resources, you need good marketing resources. “There’s no reason not to base all of these resources in Sri Lanka. Having a high-end knowledge industry is actually crucial to every country in the world and Sri Lanka actually has a great chance to build that right now in a very meaningful way. Today, if I weren’t lucky enough to have this job and if I were running my own company, my only two choices would be Barcelona or Colombo!”

While this unbridled enthusiasm Metzger has for Sri Lanka and its potential can be viewed as your usual corporate bluster, to meet him is to realise quite the opposite. With a loud, booming demeanour that is simultaneously commanding and disarming, Metzger’s affection for Sri Lanka comes across as nothing short of absolutely sincere. Which makes perfect sense seeing that he spent many of his formative years in the country.

“As you know I have a deep emotional connection to Sri Lanka and I personally consider it home, because it’s the place where I grew up. Of course, myself and Citi want to see Sri Lanka prosper, and what’s really interesting to me is, if you look at the assets that Sri Lanka has, the world is moving to a place that brings untold opportunities for Sri Lanka,” said Metzger, pointing to Sri Lanka’s potential as a trade hub amid supply chain fallout resulting from the growth of trade and borderless companies – companies that can be based anywhere but serve the world.

But to love something is to be honest about both its flaws as well as virtues. While Metzger is quick to point out Sri Lanka’s high literacy rate and stream of high quality graduates, in the same vein he understands where Sri Lanka needs to improve, such as in terms of policy consistency, which he believes will greatly boost the country’s ability to lure back the talent lost in recent decades.

“If you look at the US, Australia, Canada, UK, all of the places that view themselves as knowledge-working economies, they all have ways in which successful people can invest to get a visa. In Sri Lanka the length that is offered is very short, even under the best programs.

“That is something I think people could potentially think and debate about. Because there are so many successful Sri Lankans. I think that pound for pound, Sri Lanka has more senior expatriates around the world than any other nation. There’s a huge a number of very senior Sri Lankans all over the world and more need to be offered a route home to support economic progress and growth.”

Metzger also believes that Sri Lanka’s relatively small market in terms of the global context, while generally viewed as a disadvantage, is actually a net positive. With many technology companies hesitant to invest in Sri Lanka in any meaningful way, owing to the island’s smaller market, the flip side, says Metzger, is that this allows “breathing room for local companies to grow up and become meaningful in the end”.

When speaking about Sri Lanka, Metzger has also frequently brought up the topic of “leapfrogging,” where a country with the advent of technology progresses beyond a traditional market in areas where infrastructure may not be as well developed. This was something Metzger has long been keen on seeing Sri Lanka capitalise on, but it has yet come to fruition. The reason, he says, is in the details of Sri Lanka’s formal and informal economy, which caters to needs better than many other countries. “Many companies can use Sri Lanka as a hub and also more local companies need to be cultivated to be national then regional and even global champions.

“The efficiency of that smaller economy is tremendously powerful and as a result there is less need for a payments app to massively penetrate the company. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, it just means what will drive it is the superiority of the offering, but it won’t be accelerated by the need.”

So in that case, what role can a global bank like Citi play in Sri Lanka’s growth. For Metzger the answer is pretty straightforward – with regulatory relationships in some 160 countries Citi can essentially help Sri Lankan companies grow exponentially beyond the confines of the local market.

“One of the biggest parts we can play is, that Citi operates in a 160 countries, we have a physical presence in 99 of them. And what’s fascinating about that for people is we can help in the internationalisation of Sri Lanka, both in and out.” 

Citi already banks over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies doing business in Sri Lanka.