Disrupt Asia 2019 succeeds in shining definitive spotlight on Sri Lanka start-up ecosystem

The recent Disrupt Asia 2019 event helped Sri Lanka’s start-up ecosystem gain key insights, new connections and advice through purpose-driven messages. 

Organised by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka, the Government’s apex ICT institution, this year’s Conference and Innovation Festival harnessed the energy of a full-day program featuring discerning speakers keen to share their experience and knowledge on the unique challenges and promise of being part of a start-up community.

Addressing the gathering, ICTA Chairman Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, speaking on disruption, said: “We want impact. We want to make a change in the world, do good, change markets and make money. We need to think big, think of our region, think of Asia. That is why this is called Disrupt Asia.” 

Advising start-ups, he noted: “Keep an eye on that end goal, think of new things to do, as you think of new partnerships, as you enter into transactions, think of the end objective: Having an impact on the world.” 

Acknowledging the ICTA industry development team and all stakeholders, Prof. Samarajiva added: “ICTA has been recognised for providing the best ecosystems. That team is all of you, all these people working together, cooperating, collaborating and meeting is going to give us the results we want.”

Setting the conference buzz by offering concrete advice to the growth-minded and ambitious local start-up community, Casie Lau, one of Asia’s foremost tech start-up pioneers and an inspirational speaker, in his opening remarks said: “I am here to talk a little bit about what I have done and how I can help maybe propel the Sri Lankan ecosystem.”

Elaborating on a series of key beliefs that he felt contributed to his success, Lau said: “I want to start with community because that is what it is all about. I see this in every city I go to in the world, everywhere there is community-building and it is very exciting, to exchange and share ideas about the future community is very important.”

He explained that another important value was mentorship. Lau urged the audience to find older people within the community to use as a sounding board. Introducing the term Bootstrap, he also advised start-ups to refrain from “always trying to raise a million dollars first”. Instead, he noted that it was really important to build something that people wanted to buy. Interestingly, he referred to the initial sparse Airbnb office and the staff’s work ethic to help the company achieve what it had to date. 

Other significant principles he voiced were the need for remote work and building anything, anywhere in the world. He said: “If there is anyone thinking that Sri Lanka is not big enough, it is always big enough because there is always somebody somewhere who is interested in what you are building.”

Lau emphasised that local start-ups needed to believe in transformation when building products, be conscious of new markets and keep innovating.

He urged start-ups to “always look at new opportunities and new places that you might have not earlier” and “when thinking about iterations and new products it does not have to be big, but could be something moving your idea ahead.” 

Referring to technology and start-ups, Lau’s belief was that the global community had “only scratched the surface” and a lot of exciting opportunities still existed.

Finally, he asked the audience to take stock and refocus on where they were going, especially locally.

“What is going to be happening here? Where is Sri Lanka going to be in the world in the next five years? Find the right thing, the opportunity and the future in that area,” he suggested.

Closing this year’s Disrupt Asia 2019, Amarit Charoenphan another eminent start-up personality in Asia who is Executive Chairman of HUBBA, Thailand’s first and largest co-working space and co-founder of Techsauce, a leading tech conference in Southeast Asia, discussed his journey.

“Start-ups are all about identifying a problem, looking for scarcity, looking for scalable, repeatable models using innovation to drive it. Start-up life is all about experiments and turning assumptions into facts,” Charoenphan revealed.

As a start-up and entrepreneur ecosystem leader, he focused on his experience, noting: “Scarcity thrives, it is this seed that creates innovation. This is where start-ups and innovation can happen because there are so many issues and so much scarcity that you are going to build really interesting businesses that not only solve local problems but problems for one of the most exciting regions in the world which is Asia.”

He too urged the audience to ask advice from others and find a mentor. 

“Why I am here today and did not fail is because of a mentor telling me what to do, who to talk to and helping with opportunities,” he stated. 

Emphasising the importance of team members, Charoenphan stated: “At the end of the day you are trying to create a team that is going with you on this journey for seven to 10 years.”

Concluding his motivational address, he declared: “Keep that fire, keep that passion alive, keep pitching, keep trying because you keep learning. We are only in this business because of the people we serve. At the same time, you need to talk to people, speakers, ask questions. Make sure that you build your own community around you so that when you need help, somebody is there to pick you up.”