The Maison de Ceylan in Lyon, France offers essential business services to Sri Lankan companies looking to enter the continent. 86 per cent of French business operators in France don’t speak English, the de facto language of commerce in Sri Lanka.

In addition to complete language services, the Maison will provide a place for the companies to showcase their products, hold meetings and conduct sales while the 8,000-member strong CGPME can ensure that potential customers are never in short supply, a media release said.

Globalisation has defiantly taken off in Sri Lanka. With local companies looking for foreign partners to help them break into outside markets and the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) promoting the country’s attractive investment climate, the trend is both clear and widespread. Historical ties have ensured that many of these overseas business links are with the United Kingdom. If the Franco-Sri Lankan Business Council (FSLBC) has its way, these links will be widespread throughout continental Europe as well, the release said.

The FSLBC was founded four years ago as a collaboration between Sri Lankan businessmen and former University of Lyon lecturer Tima Lazarus and the Sri Lankan Ambassador to France at the time, Prof. Senaka Bandaranayake. The idea behind the council was to provide support for the Sri Lankan businessmen who are facing an uphill battle to introduce their products to the continental European market, as well as provide an opportunity for French businessmen to learn what South Asia can offer them.

At first glance, Sri Lanka isn’t very attractive for European businesses. It is remote to many of the regions where they traditionally do business, the population is comparatively small at only 19 million and political instability has kept out foreign investment for many years. With the improved peace situation, the FSLBC has recently been able to promote Sri Lanka as an ideal gateway for companies seeking entry into the rest of the subcontinent, the release said.

Sri Lanka’s strategic position on the trade routes of the Indian Ocean makes it a natural selection for a transportation hub. As the country shares cultural and language ties with the rest of the region, the manageable size of the population offers the perfect test market for new products and services. Low labour costs and high standards of education make outsourcing to the country a viable option. Should the Sri Lankan market eventually prove too small for ambitious foreign investors, there is the high tourist traffic of the nearby Maldives and a short hop across the Palk Strait brings South India and a further 200 million people.

Where the FSLBC differs from the BOI or other parties seeking to promote Sri Lanka as an investment opportunity is the size of the business they target. While others are primary interested in attracting major foreign multi-national companies, the council is taking the opposite approach. Following the thinking that all big companies were small at some point in time, they focus on the companies that will be at the up-and-coming growth centre of the global economy, the small and medium sized enterprises, the release added.

The main partner of the FSLBC in Europe is the CGPME (Confederation of Small and Medium Sized Companies) of France. The two organisations have undertaken to promote commercial contacts between the two countries as well as cooperation between their respective chambers of commerce. On the last visit coordinated to bring French business to Sri Lanka, over a hundred one-on-one meetings were arranged between industry leaders.

The FSLBC’s promotion of Sri Lanka as a destination for European companies has been undertaken privately, without the financial support of either the French or Sri Lankan Governments.

This facilitation has been carried one step further recently by the Franco-Sri Lanka Business Council with the establishment of the Maison de Ceylan.

Lyon, the second largest city in France with a population of over 1.2 million, is the capital of the Rhone-Alps region. The area has a booming economy with a GDP of over ten percent above the European average. The Rhone-Alps is conveniently placed geogropically to access the markets of Switzerland, Germany, the Iberian peninsula and Italy’s industrial north, while Paris, the heart of French commerce, is a mere two hours away by high speed rail link. Just as Sri Lanka is being promoted as a gateway for French companies to enter South Asia, the region is being promoted as a gateway for Sri Lankan companies to enter continental Europe, the release added.