Monday Nov 25, 2024
Monday Nov 25, 2024
Tuesday, 5 August 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Supporting start-ups
Abeygoonasekera, who led the opening plenary with the welcome address and an introduction to JWEF, postulated the necessity to “support start-ups, promote venture capital and angel financing, and enhance business incubation and mentoring networks in our vocational training institutes and universities”. He also suggested the establishment of a presidential task force on entrepreneurship so that experienced individuals from the field can personally enter communities and facilitate the development of entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Chandra Embuldeniya, Founder and Vice-Chancellor of Uva Wellassa University (2004-2011), delivered the keynote address at this event. Dr. Embuldeniya spoke of the importance of promoting entrepreneurship in a post-conflict society by looking at how Sri Lanka post-conflict has lost its competitive strength. Dr. Embuldeniya also spoke of the access for young people to the entrepreneurial eco system, stating that “very few privileged people have access to the eco system that promotes entrepreneurship” and he stressed the need to allow accessibility to a conducive environment.
Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, who also spoke on the occasion, touched on social entrepreneurship, especially in the context of the Sarvodaya movement of which he is General Secretary. He noted that many entrepreneurial pursuits supports a profit-generation model which is all about the ‘survival of the fittest’, whereas social entrepreneurship, while generating revenue, fulfils a vital social need.
Sri Lanka’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem
Two panel sessions were held following the opening plenary. The first session, held under the theme ‘Sri Lanka’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem’ was moderated by Mano Sekaram, and consisted of Linda Speldewinde, Dilith Jayaweera, Anushka Wijesinha, Anver Mustapha and Jayomi Lokuliyana.
Wijesinha, a Research Economist at IPS, touched on the fact that entrepreneurship sits as an avenue for young people to take advantage of their potential but there is the need for a policy framework to be put in place to allow for this potential to grow. He emphasised that in terms of policy “we need tight rules for the right reasons, and not long rules for the wrong reasons.”
Jayomi Lokuliyana, Co-founder and CEO of zMessenger Ltd., noted how many young people tend to question taking the plunge into entrepreneurship for various reasons. She motivated young entrepreneurs to go for it and in her closing remarks for the session said “failure will come, but fail fast and cheaply while creating value in the process.”
Youth as Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka
The second panel session consisted of young individuals speaking on their experience as successful junior entrepreneurs under the theme ‘Youth as Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka’.
Wijesinha moderated this panel which consisted of Anoka Abeyrathne, Andrew Jebaraj, Sheran Corera, Navin Suriyaarachchi and Sabreen Reffai.
Jebaraj spoke of his personal success story as an inspiration for young entrepreneurs by mentioning the three mantras he followed in establishing Readme.lk: firstly, be unbiased but interesting; secondly, identify your target audience and give them what they want that others can’t; and finally, find a great team that works and has fun together and let them do what they love.
Reffai, Director of Redline Technologies Ltd., spoke on a topic that many young hopefuls were conscious about and that was fear and doubt. Reffai spoke of his personal experience and how fear de-motivates you from pursuing a dream and said “let go of your fears and you’re left with absolute freedom to start the business of your dreams.”
During the Q&A session many young people brought up their fears on entering this path, especially in terms of social expectations, and also how education on entrepreneurship is lacking. All panellists agreed that you won’t be successful immediately but if it’s what you want the most, then eventually success will arrive, and that they hope that knowledge about the field and policy that supports it would steer the ecosystem to be conducive to entrepreneurship among the youth.
World Entrepreneurship Forum
At the conclusion of the event, JWEF Sri Lanka announced Anoka Abeyrathne and Nirosha Kodituwakku as the candidates selected to represent Sri Lanka and attend the 7th Edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum to be held in Lyon, France this October as representative Junior World Entrepreneurship leaders.
Abeyrathne is the 2012/2013 Commonwealth Youth Award recipient for Excellence in Developmental Work and featured 3rd on the 25 World’s Most Influential and Powerful Young People list 2012 by Huffington Post and Youth Service America and the Co-founder of social enterprise Growin’ Money.
Kodituwakku is the founder of Archmanagae Ltd. – an online e-ticketing system which is now used by the majority of the cinema halls in Sri Lanka. The company now has a staff of 13 and 80% of the market share.
The event was supported by its partner – the Dirisaviya Foundation, television partner – Art TV, and sponsors – Informatics Institute of Technology, Houznt Ltd. and ReadMe.
JWEF Sri Lanka has now opened applications for young entrepreneurs wishing to become a part of the Chapter to take the aims of JWEF and WEF global forward. Those wishing to apply and find out more can email [email protected].
