Three Sri Lankan start-ups at Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), Netherlands
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From left -- Lahiru Pathmalal, Charitha Abeyratne and Dinusha Kornkaduwa
1,200 investors and entrepreneurs from across the world attended the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) that took place from June 3-6 at The Hague, Netherlands.
Takas.lk, Busbookings.lk and Saaraketha were among the Sri Lankan companies selected to attend this selected summit representing the ground-breaking work that they are doing in technology and organic farming. The US Government and the Netherlands Government jointly organised the summit.
Charitha Abeyratne is the Founder and Chief Executive of Saaraketha, which is involved in organic food produce. Dinusha Kornkaduwa is the Chief Operating Officer of Express 418, a company working with government and private organisations to disrupt the current model of public transport in Sri Lanka by improving bus travel and comfort. Express 418 runs an online platform ‘Busbooking.lk’. Lahiru Pathmalal, CEO and co-founder of Takas.lk, is one of Sri Lanka’s leading ecommerce and technology companies, according to a media release issued by the participating organisations.
In relation to Sri Lankan companies that were represented, Mr. Pathmalal said: “It was a fantastic opportunity for Takas to showcase our SaaS product to the world. The reception was quite amazing, as we could essentially validate the product among the world’s best start-ups and companies. It showed that Sri Lankans are capable of building technology products which can stand against the very best in the world”.
Ms. Abeyratne said, “Being a part of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit was an excellent opportunity to network with like-minded entrepreneurs, who face similar challenges in a global marketplace and it was also a perfect platform to be inspired and to reignite my passion for socially sustainable businesses”.
Mr. Kornkaduwa added, “What I enjoy most was meeting like- minded individuals who wanted to make the world a better place. It validated the work we do in Sri Lanka in making the lives of thousands of people easier through our platform”.