Hope for new start-ups in Sri Lanka from young entrepreneurs
View(s):In the fast moving world of innovation, technology and education, Sri Lanka is producing many young experts in various aspects for start-up businesses.The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Sri Lanka set up a competition ‘Launch Pad 2015′ for students from universities around the country to present their best innovative ideas to the local and international corporate giants. The compettion which started two months back will witness the final presentations today (November 1) comprising four teams in the business category and three teams in social at the Hilton Residence in Colombo.
Launch Pad has proved to be a pivotal platform through which entrepreneurs manage to get their start-up business ideas up and running by providing their traction to the assembly of investors. The typical entrepreneurship journey moves through various stages, from the initial conception of the idea to the formulation of the business plan and eventually to the actual execution of the plan where the business might hit ‘gold’ or could just as easily crash and burn. For many entrepreneurs the journey is a daunting one because they need to perform many tasks simultaneously while always being conscious that their limited financial resources might run dry in the near future. Finding sufficient capital to fund a start-up can be an ordeal in itself, the organisers said.
By demonstrating their mettle and pitching the idea that a commercially viable business opportunity exists, entrepreneurs stand a legitimate chance to attract investors and get their start-ups off the ground. Launch Pad bridges the gap between the conceptualization and actual execution and enables innovations to be born and brought forth.
The highlight of this year’s Launch Pad is that a new segment ‘social idea’ category has been introduced. Social entrepreneurship is new to the country in general. The prospective of a whole new plethora of possibilities and avenues being opened up from this category is an exciting one, they said.This year’s competition received an overwhelming number of applications for both categories which signifies the true potential of the eco-system. The initial phase along with the mentorship sessions were successfully completed with an integral contribution by the event partners.
(RM)