• The speech made by Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa as the chief guest at the Teen Business Summit 2025 held at Temple Trees, Colombo

Dear students, educators, innovators, organisers and friends, it is a profound honour to address you today as a chief guest of the Teen Business Summit 2025, South Asia's first national scale business summit exclusively crafted for high school students.

Let me begin by extending my heartfelt thanks to the business school and StartX for spearheading this groundbreaking initiative. And to all of you who are gathered here today, close upon thousand bright ambitious young minds from every district, from every province, you represent the heartbeat of Sri Lanka and its future. Your presence here today tells a very powerful story.

It says that the youth of this country are no longer waiting on the sidelines, being mere spectators. You’re ready to step in, ready to lead and ready to rewrite the future we will all share. Let me begin, not with celebration, but with frankness and candour because we owe that to the youth of this country.

Sri Lanka today stands not at a turning point but at a testing point. The World Bank has revised our growth outlook to 3.5% this year and just 3.1% next year. This is not recovery.

This is stagnation. These are not numbers for optimism. They are red flags.

Yes, inflation has stabilised. Yes, there is calm in the streets. But economic calm without structural reforms is like silence before a storm.

Underneath, our nation is still shackled by massive debt, a fragile banking sector, a bloated state and systems that often reward political survival over national interest. And in 2028, the grace period ends. That year, our fiscal breathing room evaporates when we have to commence the repayment of loans.

If we have not enacted deep transformative change by then, we will be facing a second collapse, this time possibly worse. This tragedy is a tragedy that we have been warned of before. We were warned in 2009 after the war ended.

We were warned in 2015 and we ignored those warnings. Let us not add 2025 to that list. This time, let us listen.

Let us act. This country does not need more bandages. It needs surgery.

And that kind of national transformation and fundamental change cannot, and will not come from the same old power structures. It must come from a new generation. Your generation.

You are not here to memorise old economic theories. You are here to challenge them. You are not here to replicate the top-down models.

You are here to decentralise, democratise and be bottom-up. We need youth-led businesses that don’t just chase profit. But that embodies ethics at their core.

We need entrepreneurs who understand that inequality is not a footnote. It is a failure. That sustainability is not optional.

It is survival. Just for one moment, imagine. Micro-enterprises in the north, powered by solar.

Women-led agri-tech hubs in the east. Ethical apparel startups exporting to the global community. Fintech solutions connecting underserved rural urban estate communities.

Robotics, artificial intelligence and high technology, dominating economic discourse. These are not just dreams. These must be our new national strategy.

Let me turn to what 2028 truly represents. It’s a double-edged ear. On the one side, we re-enter the world of debt service.

But on the other side, we need to sustain and maintain the GSP-plus preferential trade scheme, a gateway to the European market, one of the world’s largest consumer zones. Make no mistake, GSP-plus is not guaranteed. It is earned.

It is earned not with promises, but with performance. Proof of good governance. Protection of labour rights, environmental safeguards, and democratic resilience.

And you, our young business leaders, are the key. You can lead with ESG principles, environmental, social, dominance principles from day one. You can show that profit and principle are not opposites.

You can create value chains that are traceable, accountable, and globally respected. That’s how we earn GSP-plus, not as a favor, but as a rightful outcome of responsible development. We must also be clear-eyed about the unfolding dangers beyond our borders.

In recent months, rising hostilities between Israel and Iran have cast a dark cloud over global security. If this escalates into a broader regional conflict, its impacts will not be confined to the Middle East. Today’s events and developments further illustrate the challenges and obstacles that we face living in a global community.

Fuel prices could spike. Global trade could face disruption. Investor confidence could deteriorate.

In short, a war thousands of miles away could have a ripple effect on our already vulnerable economy. Sri Lanka cannot afford to be complacent in a world that is on the edge. That’s why economic resilience is not a luxury.

It’s a necessity. That’s why entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategic thinking from our youth must be harnessed now. Because whether we like it or not, our fate is tethered to global events.

And in such situations of volatility, nations that adapt survive. Nations that wait and hesitate fall behind. In this new era, even small nations can exert influence, not through might, but through knowledge, development, entrepreneurship, and integrity.

Sri Lanka, located in the heart of the Indian Ocean, is at the intersection of great power rivalries, trade routes, and climate threats. But our strength will not come from alliances alone. It will come from credibility and best practices.

Credibility comes from the actions of our people. Every startup you launch, every innovation you scale, every fair job with a fair wage that you create, those are acts of diplomacy. Every ethical product you export carries with it a message about who we are as a nation.

You’re not just students. You are our present and future ambassadors of Sri Lanka’s soft power. Let that responsibility guide your path.

Now let me speak to you personally. Do not wait. Do not wait for the government to figure it out.

Do not wait for politicians to figure it out. Don’t wait for ministries to digitise, for bureaucracies to modernise, or for our politics to clean itself up. You do not need permission to build a better future.

Build your ventures now. Speak your truths now. Assemble your teams now.

And when you see injustice, call it out. When you see corruption, expose it. When you encounter gatekeeping, dismantle it.

Do not ask for change. Be the change. Today’s summit is not just a learning event.

It is a signal to the nation. Teampreneur, the business simulation, the trend pitch presentations. These are not just exercises, they are acts of leadership. Your ideas have value. Your voices have weight.

And your courage can inspire others to act. Even when the system says, wait. You’re not too young.

This country has been damaged, not by youth, but by archaic, rigid, entrenched systems. And only fresh thinking will break through. Let me end with a reminder that Sri Lanka’s wealth is not buried beneath its soil.

It walks on it. You are that wealth. Your time is now.

I know the challenges feel overwhelming. But remember, every great transformation in history, which was considered improbable or impossible. Decolonisation, victories of the civil rights movement, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Glasnost and perestroika, openness and restructuring of the Gorbachev regime, the invention of the internet,  artificial intelligence, IT revolution and transformation, robotics. Every one of these began with people just like you, who were told they were too small to change anything. Until they did. 

So I ask you today, think anew. Fearlessly strive forward, launch boldly, build ethically, speak and act with courage and determination. Make this summit not a memory, but a milestone.

As John F. Kennedy once said. I quote: ‘We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship to assure the survival and the success of liberty.’

Let us be a generation willing to pay the price for integrity. For justice, inclusive growth, shared prosperity, and for the prosperous Sri Lanka that we all deserve.

Thank you. And may your journeys be bold, ethical, and unstoppable. 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication