Mobile Monday Colombo returns with a bang

Wednesday, 21 November 2012 00:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Mobile Monday Colombo, organised by the Mobile & Telco Centre of Excellence (CoE) of the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM), reignited its vision of providing a platform for the local industry to mingle, learn and share their collective knowledge with a recent event held on 14 November.

The first of many such events to follow took on the theme of ‘Mobility – Next cycle, opportunities and scale’. The sessions started off with an interactive presentation by Gerard Rego – Head of Developer Experience at Nokia India, who has a wealth of experience in the industry as a CXO, entrepreneur, and angel investor.

In his pitch Rego shared with the audience the fact that mobility represents the next cycle of the industry especially for countries in Asia, South America and others with similar socioeconomic backgrounds who have huge opportunities; for innovation, technology, services and investing that are at an inflection point.

Whether they are entrepreneurs, technologists, R&D, enterprises or government the next cycle will represent new opportunities that have started to play out across the ecosystem from developers and telecom carriers to markets and consumers. Innovative business models are at the heart of this change highlighted Rego.

The presentation outlined a few current and next cycle critical directions for all where the audience had an opportunity to interact with and to explore what and how we as neighbouring countries or territories with many similarities could collaborate together on, to leverage these opportunities that serve vast markets in Asia.

Rego’s session was followed by a developer spotlight on Haneez Haroon, who shared his experience as a successful entrepreneur who has introduced SMS-based services to the local market working with two key operators in the country. Haneez has a message for all budding entrepreneurs in the mobile sector; “The life of an entrepreneur is hard at the beginning. You may tend to get frustrated, but it’s worth it in the end as you start to reap the benefits in the long run.”

“Gerard Rego was an inspiring speaker and we were fortunate to have him with us for the very first MoMo event. As a practice MoMo will give more opportunities to young entrepreneurs and developers like Haneez, to showcase their success stories and talents in future events,” stated Nayana Serasinghe CEO of Dinota and Head of the Mobile and Telco CoE of SLASSCOM.

The event was well patronised by the industry bringing together a cross section of young talent and seasoned industry professionals from large/small companies, mobile operators, app developers, investors , academia and the media under one roof.

Mobile Monday Colombo is an initiative of SLASSCOM Mobile and Telco CoE and the 101st Mobile Monday chapter. Mobile Monday is one of the largest communities of mobile technology visionaries, futurists, developers and influential personalities. Ideas, trends and best practices are shared through live and virtual networking events.

Mobile Monday Colombo provides a platform to the mobile technologists in Sri Lanka to come together in fostering collaboration and connect with the global community of mobile technology professionals.