the rationale for a government endorsed trade portal said, "Small and medium scale enterprises (SME's) will play a vital role as the Sri Lankan economy moves forward. Even in the United States the economy is not dependent on the General Electrics and Microsofts but rather on the enormous number of SME's. Our objective is not just to provide another channel for Sri Lankan companies to market their products but also to get them engaged in the idea of e-business and demonstrate to them the power of the Internet. We plan to set up and manage the portal in a manner that will provide synergies to the vast and diverse number of Sri Lankan manufacturers from producers of food products to clothing to commodities, components, electrical and electronic products and a whole host of others".

Affno's CEO Suren Kannangara said his company was happy to be entrusted with the prestigious task of building Sri Lanka's official country gateway for business.

The trade portal will enable each participating company (referred to as member companies) to advertise their products on the portal. Visitors would find these companies or their products in one of several ways. To enable this Affno will be building advanced search features and also grouping the companies into logical groupings depending on the complimentary nature of their products.