Technology entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka – way forward

Abstract

Technology entrepreneurship is rapidly gaining attention in the business field with the developments in various technologies worldwide. Innovative-minded people have started business firms to deliver technology products and services as technology entrepreneurs. Business-minded engineers are foremost among them. Although numerous studies are conducted worldwide focusing on technology entrepreneurship as an emerging field of study in entrepreneurship, the Sri Lankan context lacks such studies due to the emerging nature of techno-entrepreneurship within the country. With the hope of expanding the existing knowledge base of technology entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka, this study was conducted to gather the business advice of established techno-entrepreneurial engineers, which can be used to guide emerging techno-entrepreneurs to success. This study was conducted qualitatively by holding face-to-face interviews with a purposively selected sample of twenty-two entrepreneurial engineers in Sri Lanka. Voice-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed employing the inductive thematic method with the assistance of NVivo software. Four key themes emerged from the data as advice for emerging techno-entrepreneurs: accept challenges and work hard, be an expert, be ethical, and work for satisfaction. The above findings can benefit emerging and prospective technology entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka to make their entrepreneurial journey successful and sustainable, eventually contributing to the country's economic development.