Lanka Social Ventures (LSV) calls for young socially passionate entrepreneurs for the Youth Social Enterprise Program this year. “The pressing issue among youth of Sri Lanka at present is the difficulty to obtain employment that suits their skills and education. According to a World Bank report, the challenge of youth employment in Sri Lanka is that educated young people make up a third of Sri Lanka’s unemployed, while young workers in informal employment account for a third of the total workforce. With the aim of developing skills on entrepreneurship, employability and innovation among youth, LSV launched the Youth Social Enterprise Program. The initial workshop of the first stage under this program was held in Kandy on January 16, 2017 at the Kandy Club,” said CEO of Lanka Social Ventures, Dr. Lalith Welamedage.
“This program will be conducted in two stages in Anuradhapura, Batticaloa, Colombo, Galle, Jaffna and Kandy districts, where the participants will take part in ‘social enterprise awareness sessions.’ At this event, the candidates will be able to discuss and present their business ideas to the selection panel. Forty candidates will be chosen for the final selection and will be notified within three days of the event. At the second stage 40 finalists will present their fine-tuned business ideas at IDEATOR to the selection panel out of which 25 will be selected for the Incubator program. The remaining finalists will be provided required support through a separate short-term program if they wish to pursue with their business ideas,” Dr. Welamedage said.
He said that this program is aimed for young social entrepreneurs aged between 18 and 25 from the five provinces in Sri Lanka, namely Western, Southern, Central, Eastern and Northern interested in starting up businesses that address social or environmental issues. “The duration of the program is 12 months. During this period the participants will be provided personalized business coaching, mentoring, specialised training and other business support enabling them to start their own social enterprises at the completion of the program. The participants selected for the best entrepreneurial ideas will be provided general and bespoke business support and other resources through a structured and comprehensive program delivered by experts and accredited by a professional institute in the United Kingdom,” he said.
He further said that in addition a dedicated business coach will be allocated for each participant to gain knowledge and skills on management, finance, marketing, technical, legal and financial assistance in the form of a grant to improve the business. “The program will be an excellent opportunity to partner and network with successful entrepreneurs, peers, investors, and business support service providers,” Dr. Welamedage said.
He said that the preliminary selection of candidates at Idealabs in Batticaloa, Kandy, Galle, Jaffna and Auradhapura was held recently. “With the aim of developing skills on social entrepreneurship, employ ability and innovation among youth, LSV launched its latest incubator program “Youth Social Enterprise Incubator Program.” The first Idea lab event under this program attracted the participation of enthusiastic aspiring entrepreneurial youth from Batticaloa. They were representatives of banks, educational institutes, NGO’s, government organisations such as the National Enterprise Development Authority, District Secretary and the National Youth Services Council,” he said.
“16 business ideas were presented to a panel comprising of industry experts from the Batticaloa District. Agriculture, food processing, IT, Human Resource Management and Media were the sectors of focus in the business ideas presented by 10 male and 12 female youth. Among the business ideas presented had tried to explore new business models such as transforming traditional products to value added products to reach niche markets and skills development of youth who complete vocational training to become employable. Out of the 16 ideas presented 5 best innovative ideas with a potential for high social impact have been selected for the next stage,” he explained. The preliminary selection of candidates in Colombo was held at Aesthetic Resort, Prof. Stanley Wijesundara Mawatha, Colombo on January 30. The final selection of 25 candidates at Ideator event was also held on February 2 and 8, 2018 at TBC, Colombo from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm.
The program inauguration will be held on February 12, 2018 at HARTI, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7 from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm and the BOOTCAMP residential program will be held from February 13-23, 2018 at Community Education Centre, Thalahena, Malabe from 8.30 pm to 5.00 pm everyday.
Individual and group coaching and advise will be on February 24, 2018 to November 14, 2018 at Lanka Social Ventures office. The business plan pitching event and social enterprise showcase will be held at TBC venue from November 15-16, 2018. The program will be completed and the social enterprises will be launched in December. For inquiries and further information about the program contact Hasanthi on 076691188 or Email to [email protected]