In this issue

Should companies be bailed out?

As the Covid spread comes under control we’ve started focusing on aftermath. One of the huge problems about to engulf us is a potential wave of business failures. There will be failures of good businesses that are normally viable and employing tens of thousands of people. For some, it may already be too late, and there are others we will have to let go because their services are out of fashion.

But for the vast majority of decent businesses that want to be up and running, paying taxes and employing staff as soon as possible, the outlook appears bleak. There is an adage that explains their predicament: that insolvencies occur coming out of a recession than going in. Now that the economy is open, businesses will soon be entangled in problems with rent or utility bills stemming from the period they were in deep freeze with no revenue. Even if they briefly re-emerge without support, businesses can fizzle.

Any government assistance to private firms must be principle-based. The challenge here is to identify between protecting current equity and debt holders versus protecting underlying businesses. In a piece by the same title as this editorial, we discuss why this matters and how a business can be separated from its equity and debt holders.

This also happens to be the first post-Covid printed issue of Echelon you hold in your hands. As a small business, it sure feels great to be back and doing what we love to do!

Echelon Magazine Description:

Intelligent Storytelling

The one thing that will define the Echelon magazine will be the quality of the storytelling. Echelon,published monthly, will cover in depth Sri Lanka’s most successful businesses, examine their winning strategiesand profile their leaders in immersive stories. Great stories are also never limited to words, and our approach includes rich photography, bold graphics and leading edge design which together will make for a compelling read.

But business doesn’t start and end in a boardroom;it extends to the golf club greens, to international travel and to pursuits that blurthe lines between commercial venture and sheer passion. The Echelon team will present the best in business and lifestyle coverage that will appeal to an exclusive and affluent readership: an otherwise hard to reach demographic.

Content will be developed by one of the most experienced and proven teams of editors, financial journalists, photographers and designers in the country.This team has already raised the bar for powerful and expertly crafted business news. Shamindra Kulamannage, will lead the editorial team.

The reputation of Echelon is being built on the separation between editorial and advertising. However we are also looking for the most creative and impactful new formats that can be applied in our magazines, iPad app as well as website to help our clients reach our audience. We are flexible and creative and we will have a solution for every single advertiser who wants to reach our audience.

We are passionate about creative results and about working with our advertisers to help them create bespoke multi platform creative solutions with our in house creative team and of course our sales team.

Echelon will be a great place to show off the products and capabilities of our clients because they will be surrounded by an editorial product that is expertly crafted, full of integrity and intelligence.