The second Business Plan competition organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) to nurture innovation among the student population, will begin in January next year, with the winning school team receiving an opportunity of flying to Australia to take part in an international level competition.
The competition in Sri Lanka will bring together 60 teams representing schools from Colombo, Gampaha, Galle, Kurunegala, Kandy and Jaffna. Each team will comprise of five students, sitting for the GCE Advanced Level Examination in August, 2017 – Commerce Stream (English medium), and or students sitting for the GCE Advanced Level Examination in August 2018 – Commerce Stream (English medium).
Each participating team will be given the opportunity to choose a topic, which will be converted into a business idea, and pitched to a renowned panel of judges at regional level and then national level. The first leg of the competition will comprise regional competitions from which seven regional winners will take part at the grand finale in Colombo in March 2017. The winning team of the CA Sri Lanka Business Plan competition grand finale will be given the opportunity to take part in the Case Competition organized by the Queensland University of Technology which will be held in May 2017 in Brisbane, Australia.
Speaking at a press conference to unveil the Business Plan competition, CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe said that Sri Lanka needs more entrepreneurs to unleash their unique vision and be the change maker and help Sri Lanka reach its ambition of becoming a global player.
Assistant Dean QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Andrew Paltridge said that students are the future of businesses, industries and governments.
Chairman of the Brand Development and Corporate Communications Committee of CA Sri Lanka, Asoka Pieris said, “Preparing a business plan is an important part for any chartered accountant and therefore CA Sri Lanka is taking the lead, along with QUT in doing the business plan competition for Sri Lankan schools,” he said.
CA Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer Aruna Alwis said in the inaugural competition last year several leading schools from Colombo including Ananda, D. S. Senanayake, Devi Balika, Musaeus, Nalanda, Royal, St. Bridget’s and Visakha took part.
“The inaugural competition received overwhelming response, and therefore, we took steps to expand the competition island-wide,” Alwis said.