Forget the normal and forget the past; build strong and be bold!

The desperation to get back tourists indicates that we just do not have an alternate model to add value to the economy and get it back on track. What we really need is a new track – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

Sometimes ideas expressed openly indicate general undercurrents. The Twitter feed, which indicated burning desire to make up for lost time, to me was one. 

One message was that the upcoming summer in Europe might see unprecedented travel, etc. Having being holed up in no uncertain manner the expectation is to get the best of the limited sun this time in all possible ways. Now does that mean tourism is going to get the economy back on track!?

In another front our daily newsfeeds with their take of astrologers are still not indicating that foreign travel is in store for me or any other. Value for money is if they can tell me whether I too can venture out with no strings attached! Interestingly they do mention local travel may come your way as some obscure planet crosses some particular point. 

It is still hard to understand the frailty of the human mind – we still have faith in such statements and expend valuable resources and time to accommodate statements of no value. That astrologers have kept their jobs is simply amazing!

I really am looking forward to all the action-taking place in neurotechnology – the most recent industrial revolution taking place – to let me know what part of the brain is most susceptible and why we are quite special. Why the logical left brain is left behind by the artistic right. May be the life is interesting when you are not at all like Mr. Spock! That also means making progress in the way science is dictating, comes at a much slower pace because logic and rational behaviour is not what always drive us around.

Vaccination 

With the vaccination rolled out it is interesting to note that the most sceptical European nation on vaccination is the country where Louise Pasteur came from. The vaccination sceptics strangely are not scarce and the mere fact that the science came up with a new vaccine in double quick time of a different form is enough to raise the concerns of those who are sceptics. Fortunately that is not the majority view. 

Sri Lanka waits with committees in place looking all around who will help and for any donation. A country considers to be having one of the world’s best geo locations to suit the current economic behaviour as well boasting of a literacy that can rival even a developed economy with a superior human development index being in this situation is a real cause for concern. Some things that we have done are not right surely? Neighbourly handouts are eagerly anticipated and what strings are connected is anybody’s guess. 

A new track

We should not be dreaming about the pre-COVID economy we had. That fact that the journey for the nation was dicey was getting written all over us when the virus arrived. The list of export restrictions to save foreign exchange was already in operation. The chinks in our armour were exposed. 

My view is that the normal that we had was effectively stopped by the virus, and we should not be dreaming of the day to get back to that same old journey. Events like this provide opportunities and this is no simple event. Really we have had what Taleb coined as a Black Swan event. One important factor in favour is that it did not spare the big or the small. This lack of discrimination had been telling though the big still have resilience. 

We were able to witness first-hand wherever the services reigned supreme and if the services were pure simple services connected again only to services the impact was greater. 

We noted where tourism connected spaces were getting hit significantly. Our model in much of tourism had mostly been looking outward as the sole segment to serve. At times locals have been a real liability to some! Then some suddenly remember that there are locals as well in travel when emptiness beckons different thinking.

The desperation to get back to get tourists in a way indicates that we just do not have an alternate model to add value to the economy and get the economy really back on track. To me what we really need is a new track. There is no reason to ignore tracks where the cash flow possibility is a no brainer so keep tourism by all means but just do not depend only on it and the few others. 

The requirement is creating new pathways. Resilience through the service pathway definitely in the post-COVID era is not going to work. At least with services connected only to more services. 

Brain drain

In some ways brain drain too perhaps had been reduced due to the virus but that could be temporary. We must embrace the opportunity to build strong and being bold. The knowledge that is saved should be harnessed and being creative through manufacturing is the answer. 

Industry 4.0 requests manufacturing to be made smarter. This is not an easy answer as manufacturing is much more of an intense activity. Trade is a much less complicated affair though considering that we have had trade without much of an industry we have ensured that it has only given more wings to what is coming from outside. 

Agencies, perks and rewards from hitting lucky with running an agency is well known within the circles but not at all across. When taking a close look at our policies it transpires that we actually milk dry a manufacturer. Another comment strikes me – You can bring the whole gadget from overseas duty free and whereas you bring few parts to make the same item you will be taxed part-by-part plus and the sum of the whole too! 

If one speaks of an encouraging eco system to local manufacturers it is difficult to see the eco-system that one says exists. Anyway a point to remember is, do not expect to grow with protectionism at the core. That is another recipe for failure, which the folks in manufacturing should understand.

Innovation

There are few leaders who have turned into manufacturing to transform the society and they were the one who actually succeeded. In examples such as Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia, manufacturing was a key strategy in realising growth. 

There is innovation coupled manufacturing. That is pursuing knowledge-based operations. While curiosity and creativity is the basis of innovation it is collaboration and corporate connectivity that enable the innovation to see the light of day. 

The COVID era demonstrated people were responding creatively to perceived needs. How many such inventions and developments are visible today as economic entities having moved across the death valley that surfaces in any innovation journey. Sri Lanka has witnessed this deficiency before but COVID should have opened up the eyes further. These are developments that are necessary in time to come. 

JFK’s clarion call we have mentioned before. However the journey is not just laid out in front of you should also be known. The journey to the moon succeeded with Apollo 11. However going back, Apollo 1 burnt on the ground. It did not take off at all. You have to stay strong and together when the goals are bold! 

It is easy to see a billion dollars more with tourism. Even more dollars perhaps are not an issue. However, understanding that countries are not made primarily by tourism once understood pushes you to do difficult things. It is interestingly to contemplate if something similar to Apollo1 happened in our country, we would never have an Apollo 11! 

The name would be changed. The program scrapped. Breaking news of the recording of the dying astronauts scaring all and committees after committees without any reports coming out (to the public at least) would be sitting endlessly finding who did it. I know I am critical but am writing this with good faith. 

COVID opportunity

COVID-19 has really given us an opportunity to make use of. The question is, are we thinking along the lines of doing things differently now at least or somehow planning to stay on course to implement what we have been doing all along?

Having almost next to nothing in manufacturing in scale to ensure resilience, building that base is necessary to support the economy. We must at least now take steps to invest in systems that are capable of adding more capital generating products. 

In the old normal we used to spend more than five to six billion on cars and fuel together. This is within an 11 billion-export income economy. Moving away from commodity-based, factor-based to knowledge-based industry is our opportunity. We hear supply chains becoming shorter, economies going circular and in that world we cannot plan for the longest linear economy ever! Buying from the region and exporting to thousands of kilometres away. Nor can we entertain education to cost us money. Education should be adding value as that is the currency generator in the new economy. 

It is clear as we think of life beyond COVID-19 that it calls for a completely different line of thinking and practices. Fortunately the lines are visible in ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ and we all know that was written before COVID. There however is the need to don the glasses and get back to reading that text again!