Emerging Women’s Summit Kandy a success

Panellists from left: Savandie Abeyratne, Shirley Jayawardena, Muriel Nilaweera, Nithya Lamahewa and Jennifer Joseph

‘Mini Expo Kandy’ popup market place

• Hosted by LIIN key initiative connects women entrepreneurs to a network in Central Province

Lanka Impact Investment Network (LIIN) hosted its third Emerging Women’s Summit (EWS) in Kandy recently at Kandyan Art Residency, in commemoration of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) and Women Entrepreneurship Day.

The collaborative partners of the event were UNDP Sri Lanka, WUSC Sri Lanka, Global Shapers Community Kandy, Lanka Social Ventures (LSV), Central Province Women’s Chamber Small Industries and Commerce (CPWCIC), PWC, Women Development Centre Kandy, Joseph’s Foundation and Daily FT. 

The objective of the event was to promote Women Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing in Sri Lanka. There were 80 women entrepreneurs from Central Province benefitted by networking actively with other leading women and entrepreneurs. Various issues and bottlenecks that prevent women from upward mobility in their business landscape were discussed through a panel of discussion by leading women from Central Province.  

The key panellists were Green Life Generation and I AM UPCYCLED Founder and MD Savandie Abeyratna, Nithya Founder and Creative Director Nithya Lamahewa, the company that reinvents and re-launches Sri Lanka’s ancient craft of handlooms and bringing to new market; Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) first woman Senior Vice President Shirley Jayawardena and CPWCIC Founder and Advisor Murial Nilaweera. The session was moderated by entrepreneur and Joseph’s Foundation MD Jennifer Joseph. 

“Women living in rural areas have to seek for employment opportunities in the city or overseas as housemaids, but I AM UPCYCLED created opportunities in the village, and particularly those women as mothers, sending their kids to school and idling at home can work on part-time basis,” said Savandie, because women and mothers need flexible working hours to balance with their family responsibilities. 

Murial Nilaweera added how family support is important by sharing some household chores by a male counterpart, better managing the time to allocate personal growth in advancing career development. A right attitude of a business woman is a key to success, the social model of collectively addressing issues, how to overcome shocks after a disaster are some of crucial factors that has a significant impact in the business, says Shirley Jayawardena.  

Nithya explained and showcased about creativity and branding in her products while keeping the traditional value in handlooms and Sri Lankan crafts. Her company supports and works with women weavers from rural areas. By sharing the personal storing and experiences, the panellists suggested some recommendations for women entrepreneurs to be successful in their business, some of them were developing entrepreneurial and marketing skills, networking, thinking out of the box, branding etc.  

Setup on the terraces of Kandyan Art Residency, a pop up social marketplace called ‘Mini Expo Kandy’ which provided networking space for women entrepreneurs to meet, mingle and interrogate with other women leaders and entrepreneurs, exchanged their business card for marketing opportunities, more information about participating at ‘Ath Pavura’ TV program and showing their interest to join to Women Mentorship Circle (WMC), the latter is formed by LIIN for coaching and mentoring support to women entrepreneurs.

Lanka Impact Investment Network (LIIN) has the commitment to promoting women leadership in social entrepreneurship and impact investing, which is one of the operational priorities of LIIN to promote gender equality in their programme. Emerging Women’s Summit (EWS) is a platform to increase women leadership in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing and a place for networking to their business. 

As Sri Lanka’s very first impact investment firm, LIIN focuses on channelling private capital to solve pressing social and environmental issues in Sri Lanka by promoting impact investing across the island. This includes providing business development support to nurture a well-developed ecosystem of social entrepreneurs across the country. 

LIIN has structured operations in order to serve social entrepreneurs at all stages and built the necessary support systems. LIIN initiatives support and contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goals of SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities) and SDG 17 (Partnerships).   

Participants asking questions to the panelist during plenary discussion

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