Ath Pavura: Dynamic platform for impact investing on social entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka

One month since its inception, ‘Ath Pavura’, the first ever TV reality show for social entrepreneurs and impact investors hosted on the nation’s premier TV channel is creating a unique platform to flow equity capital to micro, small and medium level entrepreneurs.

It is Sri Lanka’s first reality show to promote entrepreneurship and impact investment aired on ITN.

Lanka Impact Investing Network (LIIN) Chairman and veteran banker Chandula Abeywickrema is the Co-Founder of Ath Pavura, with more than 30 years of experience in the banking sector and having been a leading figure in initiating many programs to uplift and strengthen micro, small and medium scale entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. Along with Founder of Social Enterprise Lanka Eranda Ginige, Chandula pioneered and Co-Founded this timely initiative for Sri Lanka.

Ath Pavura is designed to create access to equity capital for Lankan social entrepreneurs at micro, small and medium levels to propel their businesses impact on the society and the environment through their products and services on television and to pitch their new social business ideas or an existing social business in order to secure investment money as patient capital.

“Everyone is looking for employment but the need is to open an avalanche of entrepreneurs. If you take the system in United States, people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs started in a garage but they had a passionate investor who was behind them. What the investor gave was equity not loans, the patient capital, willing to take the risk and wait patiently for the entrepreneur to succeed, and behind every entrepreneur there should be passionate investor,” Abeywickrema said.

“But in our case is all about debt capital. Corporate level debt is priced between 9% to 16%, retail is between 14% to 23% and micro is between 20% to 45% so how can an entrepreneur start a business because the maximum that any start-up entrepreneurs could give back as the return on investment between 3% to 10%. And any ongoing businesses at their peak level of business is maximum of 20%, therefore how can any entrepreneurs borrow at those high interest rates and survive. What we want to build is right and sustainable entrepreneurs who could come up with a solution in resolving a problem in the society and the environment which would make them and their enterprises sustainable.”

“For me and the founder of Social Enterprise Lanka Eranda Ginige, it took three years to go on this journey in working towards creating this unique platform; Ath Pavura and it wasn’t an easy journey as there were many obstacles and challenges. This idea came at a time where we could see many entrepreneurs in the micro, small and medium levels being entrapped in debt. We have the lions, tigers and wolves in the forest of the lending industry. We felt the need to blossom entrepreneurship across Sri Lanka in the right direction by empowering the social entrepreneur movement and by setting in motion a mechanism of passionate Sri Lankan impact investors as a community and network to power the spirit of entrepreneurship in the right direction. Ath Pavura is a platform that will create awareness in the country about what social entrepreneurship is, and who the true impact investors are, whilst creating the access to private equity capital as investment not as a debt to support the micro, medium and small scale entrepreneurs across Sri Lanka,” he noted.

“We have lined up 30 impact investors who would be part of the LIIN and we have nine of them committed with the Ath Pavura program as the pioneering impact investors as ‘Tuskers’ of Ath Pavura TV reality show. It just completed five successful programs aired on ITN. The show is aired every Sunday from 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.”

The nine investors including Abeywickrema started with Rs. 1 million each, and now it has been increased to Rs. 12 million within three months since starting the program.

“Our goal is to build a community and network of over 1,000 passionate impact investors across Sri Lanka within the next two years whilst targeting 10,000 social entrepreneurs. If one enterprise provides employment for minimum of three individuals, just think of the results and how it would benefit the country and the social and environmental impact they would create for the future of our country. You would see an investor in the North investing on a social entrepreneur in the South, an investor in South investing social entrepreneurs in North. These impact investors who have been very successful entrepreneurs by themselves have created wealth from the society and the environment which they anchor their successful business to, and they now want to give back to the fabric of society and environment which they are integral part of, not only to their kith and kin,” Abeywickrema added.

“What we have seen in the last few decades is a silent cry for greater social inclusion, economic enrichment and entrepreneur empowerment from all the segments of Sri Lanka’s society and to preserve and sustain the beauty, harmony and blessed environmental eco-system of the country. Some of the issues, challenges and problems the country is facing at micro to mega level are some of our own creations. The country is richly resourced with skill, talent and ability if we can create framework, mechanism and right playing field to blossom thousands of social entrepreneurs and equality committed impact investors, then we can see the triggering silent economic revolution with social and environmental transformation.”

Ath Pavura co-partnered and co-hosted by LIIN, Selanka and ITN is that dynamic platform now here to stay and here to do that. Ath Pavura is powered by the partnership HNB, Dialog, Horizon Campus and Wijeya Newspapers Ltd.