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Monday, 4 August 2014 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Now in its fourth year, MIT-GSL has partnered with Brandix and Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) to create a unique experience in entrepreneurial skills for students and recent graduates of Moratuwa University, Colombo University and the Open University along with students of other private institutions.
Previously lasting only the duration of seven weeks, this was the first time the program was spread over a seven-month period. During this time the program had three phases that dealt with ideation and team formation, conceptualisation and, refining and fine-tuning business models.
Two other startups named First and Second Runner Up respectively were Eagle Eye, an advanced intruder detection system that accurately identifies human-movement in real-time using existing security cameras, and Organic Hug, a physical and social platform that connects consumers and farmers for buying and selling organic food.
The top three teams will be given an opportunity to launch their startups with SLASSCOM and receive a grant from Brandix in aid of this process but most importantly they will get an opportunity to pitch their ideas to potential investors. Taking the program beyond the role of a competition, it will connect young talent with the industry leaders who can convert their ideas into a reality.
These top three projects were named after a long selection and elimination process lasting seven months that started with 75 teams picked out of 380 applications. During this seven-month period, the number was reduced to 15 and then 10 and finally narrowed down to a top seven that presented their ideas to a panel of judges at Demo Day on Wednesday.
The three phases provided the student entrepreneurs opportunities to meet experts from several industries, attend workshops on finance and project management and IP and also learn about customer validation, go-to-market strategy and also learn from guest lecturers on several topics ranging from ‘structuring start ups’ and ‘valuation’ to ‘executing lean start-ups’. In addition to programming skills, entrepreneurial experience is vital for IT students with such innovative ideas as they need to learn to market their ideas and attract investors before it can be turned into profitable business ventures. This is further emphasised by the fact that over 60% of the top companies in the world are ‘tech companies’ and half of them did not exist 20 years ago.
IT is changing the way industries function and the change it brings can be utilised to increase profits as was reflected on by many of the startup presentations.
According to SLASSCOM Chairman Emeritus Madu Ratnayake, who spoke at the event, “IT creates a lot of opportunities to disrupt the traditional way of doing things in various industries and bring about radical change.”
Among the short list presenting their ideas on Wednesday were also startups such as Topnotch, a company that will provide social rewards platform to help build strong lasting relationships with customers; ShopIn, a company that will analyse behavioral and location based of shoppers for fashion retailers; D-Care, a mobile-based solution for dyslexic children to be used in therapy sessions; and Boarding.lk, a platform that connects university students seeking housing with owners of available apartments. Pix by Shehan Gunasekara
