Towards digital inclusion: Awareness, action, reality

• Following is the vision statement of FITIS Digital Services Chapter President Jiffry Zulfer

The Sri Lanka Internet Day is an event planned and executed by the digital chapter of the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), during a very crucial juncture of this country’s history. 

The day was arbitrarily picked by a committee and does not coincide with any international event, but the period itself is crucial, because it is almost the first anniversary of the pandemic, when the physical world as we knew it turned upside down. When all our human to human engagements came to a full stop, we had no option but to turn to the digital world for support. 

Year 2020 can be marked as the beginning of the actual digitalisation of Sri Lanka. With the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year, we are going into a year of realisation and action in this sphere. But before we do that, we need to sit down, analyse and understand where we want to go.

The two-day event with its 40 sessions was just about that, although that alone is not enough. Our theme itself was ‘Digital Inclusion,’ which suggests that we need to collect everything we have, all our resources, in developing a cohesive plan to take advantage of this negative situation — to make it into a positive. 

And when we talk of resources, I am not referring to people alone. Resources are also ways we can find synergies between different industries, how can we support startups through funding, knowledge and skills development? How can rural markets penetrate urban areas and vice versa? 

In other words, how can digitalisation help level the playing field? What changes in policy are necessary to give local industries a fighting chance against global giants? Should there be changes and revisions in our tax laws? These and more need to be discussed and we at FITIS thought the best way to get this ball rolling, was to capsule it into an event that would provide the platform to start these discussions.

The term ‘Internet Day’ may sound somewhat cliché because in today’s world, almost every day of the year is dedicated to something or the other. But I believe this one is different because we are dedicating it to open up some crucial talk. The internet is all-encompassing, a place where anything and everything we need for whatever aspect of our lives can be found. So this event was a stepping stone; a significant milestone; where we give the internet its due as a place to be educated, informed, grow and prosper.  Very little financial investment is necessary to build dreams and ideas into concepts and reality. Sri Lanka has produced so many who can do this, but what we still lack is an entrepreneurial spirit; our startup industry is still in the startup stage. We need more Sri Lankans taking the leap into technology entrepreneurship. 

That is why we picked the theme ‘Digital Inclusion’ for our first internet day. But here too, I have to say a lot more is yet to be done — we still have ways to go in becoming inclusive. I would be the first to admit that in this first attempt of ours, in launching the ‘Sri Lanka Internet Day, we do not have enough sessions in Sinhala and Tamil, something we need to remedy in the future. 

Of course the minimal presence of Sinhala and Tamil sessions is not for the lack of trying, but mostly because our resources were limited in this sphere. We have not given up — when we launch our next Internet Day in 2022, we hope to do a lot better. If we still don’t make the mark, we will keep on trying until we achieve success.

The Digital Services Chapter of FITIS is focused on sensitising everyone on the dire need to level the playing field, so that we can create not just a platform of equality but one of equity. This means we have to try not only to give an opening to the wider segment of our society to be part of our sessions, but to play a role in supporting and sponsoring them to aspire to greater heights.

Today, as the digital and the online world meets the offline world, the way of life will change forever. We have seen this happening in transportation, entertainment, food consumption, government services, healthcare and many more. 

That is also the vision of this country. We are greatly encouraged that this very important sector of our economy now comes directly under the patronage of the President, who has spelled out his vision for a technologically advanced Sri Lanka. We take the cue from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s vision to develop our island as a techno savvy nation. We are also happy to be associated with the country’s primary digital agency ICTA, who have given their unconditional support to this event.

So the Internet Day is a celebration of life, not just a set of geeks in a huddle. In putting this day together, we spoke to people from all walks of life. This internet day we have reached into areas, never done before. The media is called to cover an event and report on it, but this time we have delved deeper. We had one event which is a session on fake news and another covering cyber security for journalists. We hope the media will take full advantage of this opportunity, to be a part of Internet Day and the follow up events.

There is more to be done because we cannot pack everything into a single event. We have to be looking at the internet as a primary source of our livelihoods. No doubt it improved over and beyond during the lockdown period. There is a need for us to work smart. We need to protect our intellectual property and our big data. Because lurking in the shadows of this vast ocean of cyberspace are unscrupulous elements that are waiting to steal and pilfer our unique formulas and customer bases.To this end we will be working closely with the authorities in finding better ways to police and protect our digital borders. We will support the creation of innovative policies that will be modern and trailblazing.

Today we are taking our first step in making a dream into an inclusive plan to gather everyone on our little island to go forward. We cannot do this on our own, we need help from our friends. This time it is our closest neighbour from across the Palk Strait, coming to our support — we are grateful to Lathika Pai, Country Head, Venture Capital and Private Equity Partnerships at Microsoft India, for being our co-chair — she was a great inspiration to us all, working closely with us to make this event a success. 

While we need that vision, we also need daring entrepreneurs to take on the challenges of this new world in bringing opportunities to Sri Lanka. Going forward, we intend working with State agencies, the private sector and the crazy geeks in creating a platform where digital enterprise will thrive. 

[Jiffry Zulfer is the President of the Digital Chapter of the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS). He is also the founder and CEO of Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka Ltd., the most successful tech-based startup in the country PickMe, which introduced online ride hailing to Sri Lanka. Zulfer won the National Silver Award at the FCCISL Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the year 2018, the FCCISL Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (April 2004) and the ICTA Young IT Professional Award (May 2006) for his efforts in technopreneurship.]