Difficult times often bring out the best in people. It is said that Isaac Newton produced some of his best work while England was facing a major outbreak of the bubonic plague and William Shakespeare composed ‘Macbeth’,’ Antony and Cleopatra’ and ‘King Lear’ under similar circumstances when the playhouse had to shut down.

Keeping in with the high spirits of the world of possibilities that would come to reveal themselves during these challenging times the Professional development avenue of Rotaract club of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura hosted the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit for the third consecutive time this year in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Battaramulla and Sasnaka Sansada organization.

Aiming to bring out the entrepreneurial skills of youth and to portray the idea of pitching meetings and the interaction between entrepreneurs and investors, the project this year was conducted in two well-structured phases out of which phase one included a series of workshops for youth entrepreneurs which enabled contestants to take part in phase two of the project – a business idea pitching competition.

The series of workshops took off on the 1st of May with the first of it being on creating a business plan facilitated by Mr. Chamikara Jayakody; Head – Centre for Apparel Technology and Business Excellence, Brandix Corporate Campus. The next being on Basics of building your own business facilitated by Mr. Hasanka Padukka; Social Entrepreneur, CEO of Vibhava Solutions Pvt Ltd and Co- Founder of Thuru and Zerotrash.

Equipped with skills necessary for the challenge ahead, the contestants pitched their business idea for judging, out of which the top 5 were selected to qualify for the final round and one of them would leave with a cash price and all of them with new-found passion and techniques to keep pushing ahead. With ideas ranging from the commercial use of biodegradable materials to applications designed to make life easier; it was a treasure trove of innovation.

Once the top five were chosen they were provided further mentoring to prepare them for the final round by a skilled group of mentors including Mr. Chamikara Jayakody; Head – Centre for Apparel Technology and Business Excellence, Brandix Corporate Campus, Mr. Hasanka Padukka; Social Entrepreneur, CEO of Vibhava Solutions Pvt Ltd and Co- Founder of Thuru and Zerotrash and Mr. Sanira Waas; Entrepreneur and Marketing Specialist at Daraz.

Once final changes were done the business pitches of the top five contestants were presented to the honourable panel of judges comprising five personnel who had reached the pinnacle in the field of entrepreneurship. The final round held on the 23^rd of May was one awaited with much anticipation and the day came to an end with Sandun Priyankara being crowned the winner. All participants were awarded with certificates and each of them returned with something new up to their lives. The response from our fellow participants have been overwhelming to say the least.

At times when many around the world face a financial crisis we at the Rotaract club of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura  together with the Rotary Club of Battaramulla and Sasnaka Sansada organization are proud to create a platform to nurturer budding entrepreneurs that will one day make Mother Sri Lanka proud.

Written by Rtr. Reema Shakir