Unlocking the potential of MSMEs vital for post-Covid 19 recovery

By K.D.D.B.Vimanga

Sole proprietorships account for 63.1% of all businesses in the country,1 and account for 27.1% of national employment.2 Their contribution to the Sri Lankan economy is significant, and subsequent lockdowns due the pandemic have had an adverse impact on these small businesses. At present, we are unable to map out as to how many small businesses would be completely put out of business, but given that the department of labour has estimated (from a survey of 2,764 establishments) that 52.15% or 764 of firms, employing under 1 to 15 employees have closed down,3 it is likely that small businesses have also been hit hard.

However successive Sri Lankan governments have failed to strategize on the potential of these enterprises to Sri Lanka’s economic development. Emerging markets such as Vietnam have been able to capitalise on the potential of these businesses to accelerate economic growth4. Any hope of inclusive economic growth for Sri Lanka’s post covid recovery can only then be achieved if we utilize this sector, unlock their potential and empower them to grow, compete and thrive. While there is a lot of work to be done in terms of policy reform in this area, there are a few low hanging fruits, namely rehauling the business registration process, and bridging the digital divide.

In the form of a multi-part series, the Advocata Institute in partnership with LIRNEasia will provide an in depth analysis of these two vital policy tools to empower Sri Lanka’s small businesses.

Sri Lanka’s business ecosystem

According to the listing operation of Economic Census conducted in 2013/ 2014 the number of SMEs in Sri Lanka most of which are categorized as sole ownerships accounts for 1,019,681 of which 71,126 are small enterprises and 10,405 are medium scale enterprises.5 This number only represents enterprises that have registered under the above criteria. However according to the same survey there are 3 million people who engage in a similar SME related industry, trade or services. 45% of the micro enterprises and 10% of small enterprises remain unregistered. Overall, 42% of business establishments remain unregistered while 25% of these establishments are run by women entrepreneurs. In other words, informality is still high.

According to a survey done by LIRNEasia 40% of SMEs reported using the internet or social media for business; much of this use was limited to information seeking, rather than transactional use. Those who used the internet for business thought that access to the inteenet is either important or very important, while those who did not use the internet remained unconvinced of its benefits: most said there was ‘no need’ to use the internet. Few SMEs were capable of taking any form of card payment at the time of survey, and the majority of SMEs did not use mobile money services. This research points to a serious digital divide restricting the potential of Sri Lanka’s small businesses. This would be tackled comprehensively during next week’s Op-Ed outlining the serious implications of the digital divide.

K.D.D.B.Vimanga is Policy and Advocacy Executive at the Advocata Institute. He can be contacted at kdvimanga@advocata.org.