Thread by @NithilaT

Met some foreign investors last evening, it was the 1st visit to SL for one of them, the other had come 15+yrs ago, I met them 4hrs after they landed, first impression was "it's very different from what we expected", I asked why? "what we saw in the news vs the ground reality"

They went on to lament the fact that SL is losing out because not enough is being done to educate foreign investors about opportunities or investments channels in SL, govt websites are dated, embassies unhelpful, so how exactly does SL get it's "pitch" out into the world?

SL needs to do a better job in positioning itself to foreign capital, we need a proper PR strategy & a national "brand" in order to have better control on our own narrative, there's a view that SL has "bottomed out" & this is a positive, our embassies need to tow this line

Within #realestate SL has done almost NOTHING to make itself attractive for genuine foreign RE investors (excluding SL expats), govt needs to make it easier for $ to come in but also go out, confidence in that process will encourage more investors to come & evaluate opportunities

A lot foreign RE capital is "sticky" looking at longterm investment horizons of 10-15yrs, they understand risk & only need a stable/predictable policy environment & investment process, something SL has failed to provide except for "strategic investment" this needs to change

There are plenty of investors I have personally spoken to, HNWI, FII & family offices for who $500k-1mn is NOT a significant investment, there ROIs in their home countries is low, they just need the right investment conditions in order to test out Sri Lanka!

@Catalyst_CRE #lka