The Sri Lanka Agripreneurs’ Forum (SLAF) held the ‘Agripreneur Conference 2023’, themed “Empowering Agripreneurs for a World of Abundance” at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI) in Colombo recently.
The conference aimed to bring all stakeholders of agribusiness into one common platform to foster innovation and drive progressive change.
The conference was held in collaboration with Hatton National Bank (HNB) and the MBA Alumni Association of the University of Colombo (MBAAA) under the endorsement of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Over 150 key stakeholders in the agribusiness domain came together to address present-day challenges and seize new opportunities in the sector.
Chairman of SLAF, Rizvi Zaheed outlined the timely need to conduct such a conference targeting agripreneurs to uplift their skill sets and provide them with insights that could spark progressive action.
The keynote address was delivered by Minister of Agriculture, Mahinda Amaraweera, who stressed the need to develop a comprehensive agri-policy that does not change with the minister and appreciated the efforts by SLAF to uplift the agribusiness sector through the various initiatives done in sync with the government. The conference was divided into four sessions - Agri-Financing, Agri-Marketing, Agri-Tech, and Agri-Policy Facilitation - each featuring a keynote speech and panel discussion.
In the Agri-Financing Session, Rajendra Theagarajah, spoke on the topic “The Secrets to Securing Loans, Grants, and Investments.”
This was followed by a panel discussion on “Opportunities Available in Agri-Financing and How to Access Them,” with panellists including. Theagarajah; Sarada de Silva and Dr. Niluka Amarasinghe, The session was moderated by Ruwin Mapa.
The Agri-Tech Session featured a keynote address by Jeevan Gnanam on “How to Succeed as an Agripreneur in the Digital Age”.
This was followed by a panel discussion on “Using Agri-Tech to Make Your Agribusiness More Efficient,” with panellists including Gnanam; Heminda Jayaweera, and PrashanthPremkumar. The session was moderated by Dr. Selvanathan Anojan.
During the Agri-Marketing Session, Charaka Perera, delivered a keynote speech on “The Ingredients to a Good Marketing Strategy.”
This was followed by a panel discussion on “Reaching New Markets and Expanding Your Customer Base,” with panelists including Perera; Ms. Dawn Austin and Nalin Karunaratne. The session was moderated by Rizvi Zaheed. Agri-Policy Session, Prof. Buddhi Marambe, delivered a keynote speech on “The Role of Policies in Shaping Agribusinesses”.
This was followed by a panel discussion on “Policy Facilitation for a Better Agribusiness Sector”. The panellists were Prof. Marambe; Prof. Sarath Kodithuwakku, and Dr. Lionel Weerakoon. The session was moderated by Milinda Rajapakse.
CEO of SLAF, Ruwin Mapa said the SLAF is deeply committed to uplifting Sri Lankan Agribusiness through various initiatives and that such events are to be expected even in the future. It was also highlighted that all stakeholders of the sector should unite together under the umbrella of SLAF to catalyse this change and he called on all agri-related stakeholders to team up with SLAF to achieve this common objective.