Impetus to young entrepreneurs

Inaugural HSBC Youth Enterprise Awards (YEA) 2011 presented by the British Council was successfully completed at the Cinnamon Lakeside recently.

Awards were presented to winners and runners-up under five main categories: Creative Industries, Information and Communication Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Sustainable Industries.

Each category winner was funded with seed capital worth 100,000 to help them establish their own enterprises. In addition, they will all go through mentoring sessions by established entrepreneurs for a period of six months to guide them further in establishing their own businesses.

The HSBC YEA 2011 is a business plan contest that was introduced in April this year with the aim of recognising young aspiring entrepreneurs and supporting them to start and grow their businesses.

The competition was open to postgraduates, undergraduates and students aged 18 to 30 years representing universities, private higher education institutions, technical and vocational institutions and professional training bodies in Sri Lanka.

The programme was seen as an ideal fit with HSBC’s vision, and becomes the second programme the Bank has supported within the last six years, the first being Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Sri Lanka (TOYP).

Speaking at the awards ceremony, CEO of HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives Nick Nicolaou, said, “Being the world’s local bank, and present in over 80 other countries, we are driven by creative ideas that help shape business enterprises and its landscape.

As we witness the first ever HSBC Youth Enterprise Awards 2011 presented by British Council, we are confident that this programme will encourage creativity and innovation amongst young people and promote entrepreneurship that is a much needed business skill, as we move forward in the country’s economic development.”