Two intellectuals for the World Entrepreneurship Forum

For the first time from Sri Lanka, two intellectuals have been selected to attend the ‘World Entrepreneurship Forum’ which will be held in Lyon, the second economic centre of France. Dr. Arosha Fernando will represent Sri Lanka in this year's World Entrepreneurship Forum followed by Asanga Abeyagoonasekera next year.

Dr. Arosha Fernando

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera

Out of many nominations and applications received, 144 members have been screened and carefully selected from 70 countries to participate in this annual forum where Dr. Arosha and Asanga will represent Sri Lanka for the first time since inauguration of the forum 16 years ago.

Dr. Arosha Fernando has a distinctive professional background covering 20 years in the telecom industry, globally. He started his career as a Marketing Assistant at Ericsson Australia Pty Limited in Melbourne, Australia fresh from the university.

He has climbed the corporate ladder as an Account Manager in New Zealand in the same company followed by Deputy Project Manager for Digital project in Philippines, Project Manager for BTS implementation in Thailand and Project Director for Vodafone GSM project in Australia. Currently he is the Director / CEO of Sierra Global Network Pvt Ltd in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Arosha is a renowned scholar holding five degrees from Australia’s leading Universities. He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE) at Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia and a Bachelor of Business (B.Bus.) Degree, double major in Marketing and Human Resource Management from the Faculty of Business at the same University.

Further, he has three Masters Degrees from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia - Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Project Management (MPM), and Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) major in Telecommunication Engineering.

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is presently the Executive Director of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS). Prior to this he was the Chairman of Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency (SLFEA).