Business delegation led by FCCISL to Mumbai

CAAYE Young Entrepreneur Summit:

Ten young entrepreneurs from Sri Lankan attended the inaugural Young Entrepreneurs Summit held in Mumbai recently.

The summit was organized by the Young Indians (YI), the youth wing of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for Commonwealth Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAAYE). The summit brought together over 200 entrepreneurs from Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

A business delegation compromising of 10 young entrepreneurs was led by Krishantha Wisenthige, Head, Membership, Projects and Services of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL). The FCCISL is the focal point for CAAYE in Sri Lanka.

The summit was a very good opportunity for Sri Lankan Young Entrepreneurs to learn, network and develop B2B linkages with entrepreneurs in the region. Participants met all the different delegates, explored potential opportunities with them and got to know successful entrepreneurs and their journey.

The capstone summit spread over 4 sessions with a galaxy of over 20 speakers from India and across the Region.

The summit consisted various sessions with distinguished speakers and stalwarts from the industry, discussed topics which imbibe the values of entrepreneurship.

These sessions included were building an entrepreneur ecosystem, access to finance, infrastructure, regulations and taxes, education and skills development entrepreneurship as a career, education as a business opportunity, breaking trade barriers trading blocs and reform in import policies (shift from protecting producers to benefiting consumers), funding young entrepreneurs and doing business in India.

The CAAYE Young Entrepreneur Summit is an annual event where young entrepreneurs from all the Commonwealth-Asia region countries collectively meet for 3 days to network, build business linkages, conduct field studies, attend learning sessions and jointly prepare a set of recommendations to improve the ecosystem of youth entrepreneurship in the form of an official communiqué that would be submitted to member Governments through the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The focus of the 2012 edition of the Summit was to share best practices and prepare recommendations for improving "access to finance" to young entrepreneur.

A key outcome of the summit was the finalisation of the communiqué which contained constructive policy recommendations that young entrepreneurs wished to suggest to governments to take to improve the youth entrepreneurship ecosystem across the eight Commonwealth-Asia countries. During the three-day stay in Mumbai, the entrepreneurs also conducted field visits to Mahindra Manufacturing Plant, Dharavi Slums and Mumbai Dabbawallas, among others.

The group also attended the leadership assembly, organised at the sideline of the summit, where various country representative converge to discuss the alliance progress. "This was a superlative opportunity for Sri Lankan Young Entrepreneurs to discuss various aspects of entrepreneurship, business networking and exploring partnership opportunities with peers", said Wisenthige. He also stated that FCCISL is looking forward to bring a larger delegation at the 2013 Entrepreneurs Summit, so that more Sri Lankans would benefit from the exposure.

Organized by Commonwealth-Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAAYE) Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) is the focal point for Commonwealth-Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAAYE) in Sri Lanka.

The CAAYE Young Entrepreneur Summit is an annual event where 200 young entrepreneurs from all the Commonwealth-Asia region countries(India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei) will collectively meet for 3 days to network, build business linkages, conduct field studies, attend learning sessions and jointly prepare a set of recommendations to improve the ecosystem of youth entrepreneurship in the form of an official communiqué that will be submitted to member Governments through the Commonwealth secretariat.

The focus of the 2012 edition of the Summit was to share best practices and prepare recommendations for improving "access to finance" to young entrepreneur

The capstone Summit was spread over 4 sessions with a galaxy of over 20 speakers from India and across the Region. Speakers included captains of Industry, policy makers, senior-most officials from the Commonwealth Secretariat, young entrepreneurs drawn from the country delegations, ministers and bureaucrats, country ambassadors and young leaders. The opening session focused on the key entrepreneurship enablers like access to finance, regulation and taxation, education and skill building, infrastructure and the like, there will also be concurrent sessions with CEOs of leading banks and financial institutions and special sessions on 'Breaking trade barriers' and 'Doing Business in India'.

Name of delegates

Kamburugamuwa Gallage Tharaka Maduwantha Gallage, Director Tharaka Garment, Matara. Kasuan Gallage, Director Finance, M.T Motors Co pvt ltd Polonnaruwa. Arumathanthri Ranjeevi Soma, CEO, Mt Motors Co Pvt Ltd Polonnaruwa.

Ravidu Priyanth Runage, Director, Rathna Producers Cinnamon Exports (Pvt) Ltd, Matara.

S.Vengada Saranya Iyer, Managing Director, Shree Vengadeshwara Networks (Pvt) Ltd, Vavuniya, Yong Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 - Merit. Upali Jayasekera, Managing director, Mega Heaters, Colombo. Krishantha Wisenthige, Head - Membership Projects & Services FCCISL, FCCISL - Colombo, K Y Dhanushka Fernando, Managing Director Inmarc Advertising, Colombo.

Aruna C Keerthiratne, Managing Director, N H K Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Kegalle, Yong Entrepreneur of the Year 2012. Udeni Nadheera Nakalanda, Managing Director, Kavin Polymers (Pvt) Ltd Kandy.

A statement released by Young Entrepreneurs Association of Brunei (YEAB) said that the summit brought together a diverse mix of entrepreneurs engaged in in agriculture, real estate, ICT, construction, retail, manufacturing and education, among others.

The summit served as a platform to talk about youth entrepreneurship in the region. The entrepreneurs representing Brunei were from YEAB and entrepreneur graduates of the Youth Development Centre of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

CAAYE is a network of young entrepreneurs and the organisations that aim to promote the cause of young entrepreneurs in respective member countries.

Fatin Arifin, YEAB secretary and Brunei Country Representative to CAAYE, in a statement said that the summit was an excellent networking and learning opportunity for the Brunei delegates, as well as an opportunity to witness first hand India's thriving economy.

"India is one of the most entrepreneurial economies in the world and Mumbai is a melting pot of various sectors of entrepreneurship so summit and participated as a speaker to the session on breaking trade barriers. there was a lot of learning for us," said Fatin, who headed the delegation.

YEAB President Hafimi Abdul Haadi also attended the event.