Developing Sri Lanka’s Entrepreneurs of the future

NSBM’s new education partner in Sri Lanka, Plymouth University, is renowned for being one of the UK’s most enterprising universities.

The unique education partnership builds on Plymouth’s leading reputation for delivering projects in Sri Lanka under the Prime Minister’s Initiative for International Education, in recognition of the UK’s position as a world leader for developing enterprise, innovation and creativity in graduates.

For two consecutive years, leading Plymouth University Business academicshave helped deliver a programme of enterprise and employability with two of Sri Lanka’s top universities. The lectures and case-studies are presented by a mixed team of Plymouth and Sri Lankan staff and culminate in a highly successful inter-university residential business challenge event, ‘Sri Lanka Flux’.

The intensely competitive 2012 final involved around 60 graduates and 16 Sri Lankan business mentors. The students were set a real business challenge: to increase tourism revenues by making Sri Lanka a destination of choice for travellers.

Following the success of the 2011 inaugural event in Sri Lanka, in 2012 it was run as a residential event in a tourist hotel, giving the students excellent context and more time to plan their projects. Using techniques learned from creativity sessions delivered by leading Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management academics from Plymouth University Business School, they then had an opportunity to refine their ideas through a series of meetings with business experts.

Ideas ranged from training tourist guides and developing cultural villages, to offering home stay accommodation for travellers – and was won by the University of Kelaniya.

Plymouth University academic, Dr Dulekha Kasturiratne, who also recently carried out research for the UN into tea producing in Sri Lanka, said: “This project evidences Plymouth University’s expertise in enterprise and innovation and brought lasting benefits, both for the students and for Sri Lanka’s economy. Partnership initiatives such as these deliver an outstanding student learning experience in developing Sri Lanka’s entrepreneurs of tomorrow, deepening mutual understanding of entrepreneurial education within each country’s higher education system.”

Plymouth University has also been participating since 2008 in the British Council run Sri Lanka reality TV enterprise competition, Ideators. Marketing student Adam Pavey took part in Ideators 2012 and was one of the show’s most popular contestants attracting a large Sri Lankan following on FaceBook.