Mobitel and Sirasa TV successfully conclude ‘Kotiyak Vatina Adahasak’

From left: 3rd Runner Up Shashi Sampath, Grand Winner Sunil Jayasinghe, 1st Runner Up Asiri De Silva and 2nd Runner Up Aruna Prasad of ‘Kotiyak Vatina Adahasak’

Grand Winner Sunil Jayasinge receiving his award from Sri Lanka Telecom Group Chairman P. G. Kumarasinghe Sirisena and Capital Maharaja Organisation Group Chief Executive Officer Mohan Barara

The national mobile service provider together with Sirasa TV launched Sri Lanka’s first-ever technology based innovation reality TV show ‘Kotiyak Vatina Adahasak’ in July 2016. The programs was powered by Mobitel which conceptualised it and it was produced and aired on Sirasa TV. 

The grand finale of the show was held recently where the winner of the best technology innovation was selected. The event was attended by the Moratuwa University Vice Chancellor Professor Ananda Jayawardane as the Chief Guest and also present were Sri Lanka Telecom Group Chairman P. G. Kumarasinghe Sirisena and Mobitel Chief Operating Officer Nalin Perera. 

The program brought in a total on more than 1,000 registrations from across the country out of which 125 applicants were shortlisted after an orientation session and the first pitching round. Following this a further 24 applicants were shortlisted after the second pitching round. 

After product demonstrations and prototype evaluations the 24 applicants were further shortlisted to 12 and thereafter eight applicants. After a business and marketing pitch four applicants were taken to the investor pitch of the grand finale. The final 12 were each provided with Rs. 100,000 each to further develop their innovations into products.

Throughout the program, workshops were conducted to introduce the applicants to the entrepreneurial mindset and the objective was for the applicants to develop their creative capacity, entrepreneurial confidence, and acquire the skills necessary to build scalable ventures that solve real life problems. Workshops featured experienced entrepreneurs and industry experts as speakers providing the participants the opportunity to learn key entrepreneurial concepts and practices and to network with like-minded people. 

The finalists and final winner were selected by a panel of judges based on the criteria of the impact to the society, business potential, uniqueness, marketability and sustainability of the innovation presented.  The members of the expert panel of judges were Country Business Manager for Intel Sri Lanka Indika De Zoysa, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kapruka Dulith Herath, Inventor – Senior Research Scientist – Chief Executive Officer of Hybrid Technologies – Nanotechnology Manju Gunawardana, Business Coach and Entrepreneur Fayaz Hudah, Head of the Department of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering of University of Moratuwa Prof. Rohan Munasinghe, Senior Lecturer – Department of Computer Science and Engineering – University of Moratuwa Eng. Nalin D. Karunasinghe and Chief Executive Officer of Crowdisland.lk Chalinda Abeykoon. 

The innovations of the final four applicants in the grand finale were a smart industrial boiler, a remote cash depositing system, a smart laser driller and a forged currency note and document detector. The grand winner was the remote cash depositing system that was innovated by Sunil Jayasinge under the name ‘Easy Deposit’. He was awarded a prize of Rs. 1 million for his innovation. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Runners Up were awarded cash prizes of Rs. 500,000, Rs. 200,000 and Rs. 100,000 respectively for their innovations.