Sri Lanka’s biggest festival, Avurudu—the Sinhala and Tamil New Year—is celebrated countrywide on the 13th and 14th of April 2024. Thus, it’s incredibly timely that I was asked to list the ten manifestations I envision for the country’s advertising and marketing space.

This country and its people have shown the utmost resilience during some tough years. Everyone has been tested enough—on personal and professional grounds. It’s time for some joy. So, here’s wishing that this New Year heralds the biggest bounce-back for the country’s economy, business, and livelihood. May this year be one of ease, abundance, and happiness for all.

The country’s currency is the large number of entrepreneurs who have emerged through the pandemic and the financial crisis. Some of them (me included) had no choice but to make lemonade out of the lemons (or Narangs, as the local citrus is called) that life threw at us. I wish for local entrepreneurs to be given a focused financial and business boost, like corporate entrepreneurial loans, to help them thrive.

The country’s economy is still under the IMF’s shadow, so the most urgent focus is financial sustenance. Financial literacy is of the utmost importance for everyone. Even more so for women, we understand how best to manage, invest in, and grow what we have, including home businesses.

I hope to see this country’s brightest minds transform its potential into a technical resource hub for the rest of the world. Many Sri Lankans are already working remotely for global companies, which can be scaled to put the country on the global map.

As a creative head, my deepest desire has been for Sri Lanka to win its first Silver, Gold, and Grand Prix at the advertising’s most famous festival- Cannes. I wish for this to manifest soon.

I am blown away by the creativity chops and business mindset of this country’s women entrepreneurs and business heads. But we need many more women. My wish is to see more of the female workforce come out of the forced shadows that the patriarchal system has enforced on them so they can shine their light bright.

I wish for a less scarcity mindset, less competition, and more support amongst women entrepreneurs and women bosses. As more women take on leadership roles, they need to mentor and encourage more women to play a role in their professional and economic growth.

I would absolutely love to see more powerful women in boardrooms, where all the important decisions are made.

India was a close ally of Sri Lanka during its financial crisis. I hope this partnership gets even more robust with each passing year, where there is a mutual exchange of intellectual learning and economic growth from each other.

Last but certainly not least, I want to see more reforms in the education system so our kids can truly become citizens of an enlightened and empowered world.

Happy New Year, Sri Lanka!
 

This article first appeared in the April print issue of Manifest, part of a broader 'Rest of South Asia' feature.