Investor Eye:

Launch of role model for social entrepreneurship

Sri Lankan investors for the first time will be able to receive and access investment research in both Sinhala and English languages via post, email and internet.

The company which will be launched on February 22, is a brain-child of Chamikara Gunawardane, the founder of Investor Eye (Pvt) Ltd. An international business graduate from New Zealand and final term MBA (Banking and Finance) student at Postgraduate Institute of Management, Chamikara has had close to ten years of capital market experience in Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh.

Chamikara Gunawardane said that the company would be the first of its kind of social business in Sri Lanka, where independent investment research of listed companies on the Colombo Stock Exchange along with a pioneering investment rating for investing in Sri Lanka would be made available for the public in Sinhala and English. He feels that much of the Sri Lankan public had stayed away from Sri Lanka's equity market due to lack of bilingual investment research as well as the absence of independent equity research.

Gunawardane's dream for this venture was to make Investor Eye a role model for social entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka, by taking the capital market research and investment to grassroots and also spending more than 20 percent of its revenue to address a number of identified social causes in the country.

Through this innovative venture, Gunawardane attempts to make all categories of investors more educated and informed before they make an investment decision. He also feels that most investors, particularly the retail investors, get their fingers burnt due to investing in shares without ascertaining the specific risks of what they were getting into.

The services available were subscription research, commissioned/fee-based research and investment consulting / investor education. The first service would be available to subscribers at a monthly fee of Rs 1,000.

Subscribers can receive a minimum of two corporate research reports a month, global economic and capital market review, local economic and capital market review along with a valuation guide every week on top of other periodic research updates.

The commissioned/ fee-based research would be available for medium to large investors including listed companies, foreign investors. HNIs, institutional investors, fund managers and stockbrokers need to receive customized corporate research reports. Individual and group consultations/education, would be offered to existing and also to potential investors.

All these services would be available in both Sinhala and English languages.

The chief guest for the launch would be Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. The launch would be held at the Sri Lanka Press Institute in the morning of February 22.