Skills Expo 2025 Bridging gap between talent and opportunity

By Rukaiya Riza

Skills Expo 2025 is poised to become a national platform connecting the job seekers with employers, enabling the industries to help shape a skilled future workforce and encouraging youth to explore career paths beyond traditional choices.

Mirror Business sat with Mount Lavinia Hotels Chairman and Tourism Industry Skill Council Chairman Sanath Ukwatte to talk about Skill Expo 2025, what the 2025 edition would be like and what the future holds. 

What are the main objectives of Skill Expo 2025?

We aim to demonstrate the range of vocational capabilities Sri Lanka has in its youth, reduce the connectivity links between the students and industry, encourage alternative career options in place of traditional professions and address the divide in education to work.

Why is this initiative important? What is lacking in Sri Lanka?

There is a cultural attribution to lack of growth in traditional white-collar employment, yet the industries urgently require competent technicians, artisans and IT experts. Sri Lankans lack the understanding of the importance of vocational training and do not give enough recognition to its importance.

How does this plan to reduce the skill gaps and workforce shortage?

By bridging the gap between the TVET graduates with the potential employers through displaying the in-demand skills, creating partnerships with industries and showing very real career pathways within industries where in-demand labour is currently lacking.

How will this improve productivity and align TVET supply with the industry demand?

The expo will establish direct communication between the educators and employers, so that the TVET institutions learn the needs of the market, as the industries have voice in determining the curriculum and capabilities of the graduates.

Who is your target audience?

The students and parents who are thinking about career choices, TVET schools, employers trying to hire skilled employees, industry partners trying to find prospective talent pipelines and policymakers interested in workforce development.

What’s your view on Sri Lanka’s skill gap?

A paradox: low employment and dire need in technical areas. The gap is not only technical but a question of perception, career guidance and aligning current talent with actual opportunities.