Takas.lk, Busbookings.lk, Saaraketha among SL companies selected to attend 9th GES in Netherlands

Wednesday, 12 June 2019 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Lahiru Pathmalal, Charitha Abeyratne and Dinusha Kornkaduwa    

1,200 investors and entrepreneurs from across the world attended the summit that took place from 3-6 June at The Hague, Netherlands. This was the 9th summit and the first summit to be held in Europe.  The Government of the United States of America and the Government of Netherlands jointly organised the summit. Takas.lk,

Mike Pompeo

Busbookings.lk and Saaraketha were among the Sri Lankan companies selected to attend this selected summit representing the ground-breaking work that they are doing in technology and organic farming. 

Charitha Abeyratne is the Founder and Chief Executive of Saaraketha, which is involved in organic food produce. Dinusha Kornkaduwa is the Chief Operating Officer of Express 418, a company working with Government and private organisations to disrupt the current model of public transport in Sri Lanka, by improving bus travel and comfort. Express 418 runs an online platform ‘Busbooking.lk’. Lahiru Pathmalal is the CEO and co-founder of Takas.lk, one of Sri Lanka’s leading ecommerce and technology companies. 

The summit was attended by Queen Maxima (Netherlands) and senior government officials such as Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, with Ajay Banga (Mastercard), Dr. Chang-Gyu Hwang (Korea Telecom) and Carolyn Rodz representing the private sector.

The event made some global headlines for in terms of the events and discussions.  Senior executives from global companies held a meeting with Secretary Pompeo and Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The aim was to strengthen mutual trade relationships and to discuss current issues.

At the event, Secretary Pompeo also called on American allies to back its trade war against China. “We’ve been clear: our ask is that our allies and our partners and our friends don’t do anything that would endanger our shared security interests or restrict our ability to share sensitive information,” in relation to risks posed by Chinese telecommunication company Huawei.

In relation to Sri Lankan companies that were represented, Takas.lk CEO and co-founder Lahiru Pathmalal stated: “It was a fantastic opportunity for Takas to showcase our SaaS product to the world. The reception was quite amazing, as we could essentially validate the product among the world’s best start-ups and companies. It showed that Sri Lankans are capable of building technology products which can stand against the very best in the world.”

Saraii Village founder Charitha Abeyratne stated: “Being a part of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit was an excellent opportunity to network with like-minded entrepreneurs, who face similar challenges in a global marketplace and it was also a perfect platform to be inspired and to reignite my passion for socially sustainable businesses.” 

Express 418 CEO Dinusha Kornkaduwa stated: “What I enjoy most was meeting like-minded individuals who wanted to make the world a better place. It validated the work we do in Sri Lanka in making life of thousands of people easier through our platform.”

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