Venture Engine 2013 to empower entrepreneurial start-ups

By David Ebert

Following the immense success of Venture Engine 2012, which led to nine local businesses receiving funding worth over Rs. 100 million in total, Blue Ocean Ventures and the Indian Angel Network announced the launch of the 2013 Venture Engine Entrepreneurship yesterday.

Blue Ocean Ventures CEO Prajeeth Balasubranium (far right) yesterday announced the launch of Venture Engine 2013, a highly successful business incubator program for local start-up companies looking to source seed capital and funding. From left: Lanka BPO Academy Director Yasas Visuddhi Abeywickrema, Blue Ocean Ventures Chairman Rajan Anandan, Dialog Enterprise Group Chief Officer Jeremy Huxtable, Expolanka Group CEO Hanif Yusoof, Orion City CEO/Director Jeevan Gnanam and Indian Angel Network Representative Shravan Shroff are also present – Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe

The program continues to be backed by industry heavyweights once again, with Expolanka Holdings PLC and Dialog Axiata returning as sponsors, and with Orion City also lending its support. The launch marks the official call for business plan submissions by aspiring entrepreneurs and those looking to expand their initial-stage businesses and seek funding.

Following an evaluation, the top selected business plans will be called in for presentations and mentoring workshops where the entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to work directly with leading investors and businessmen from the region to fine-tune their pitches.

“Even though the actual entrepreneurship challenge was completed in June 2012, there has been continued activity by all the investors involved with the Venture Engine program working with the final nine businesses in developing their business plans, setting up and expanding their operations. This on-going involvement in building the business is the key element that differentiates Venture Engine,” said Blue Ocean Ventures Managing Director Prajeeth Balasubramanium.

In addition to the ongoing development of the nine finalist businesses, Venture Engine also launched the Lankan Angel Network; an investor forum that looks at new business ideas being generated in the market. Venture Engine also tied up with the Academy of Design to unveil the Business Launch at the Sri Lanka Design Festival and partnered with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce as well, to promote ideas from within the ICT industry by running a business plan competition. Hicka Hack, a program for entrepreneurs to ‘hack’ ideas, will also launch this year in May.

CEO Hanif Yusoof of Expolanka Group, the Platinum sponsor of this year’s program, told the Daily FT about the importance of supporting Sri Lankan entrepreneurs: “Few people understand the vision that drives an entrepreneur and the passion that keeps them striving; it is a rare gift that needs to be nurtured and supported. Beginning as a single store in the 1970s, it was this vision of something bigger that enabled us to grow into one of Sri Lanka’s finest enterprises and this is why we felt Venture Engine was the ideal project for us to support as we strive to make a difference in the lives of people with great ideas and great potential.”

Responding to a question on whether the company’s support would be restricted to the sponsorship of the event alone, Yusoof stated: “No, it’s certainly not restricted to the sponsorship itself because if the program reveals some interesting projects, I don’t see why we shouldn’t get involved with them. We were entrepreneurs once and that’s how we began and that’s the way we will continue.”

Group Chief Executive Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya of Dialog Axiata PLC, the Gold sponsor this year, in a statement issued said: “We are proud to be a partner in the Venture Engine competition for the second year in succession. Empowering innovators and entrepreneurs in their quest to bring their ideas to market will contribute immensely to the global competitiveness of our nation.”

While the top three plans will be selected and awarded a series of prizes to help start off their businesses, the real potential of the event lies in creating visibility for the participating entrepreneurs to a network of prospective investors, who are all encouraged to explore investment opportunities outside the scope of the event.

Representing the Indian Angel Network, through whose partnership LAN managed to open up avenues for Indian investors to fund some of last year’s finalists, Shravan Shroff representing IAN at the event stated: “The Indian Angel Network (IAN) is pleased to partner with Venture Engine in indentifying and selecting Sri Lanka’s top start-ups. IAN has had a very successful last year in its partnership with VE and some of its notable investments have been Takas.lk, Nithya, House of Lonali, Lanka BPO and 24/7 Techies, amongst others. IAN believes that there is tremendous potential in the start-up sector in Sri Lanka and wants to fuel the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst Sri Lankans to create high growth and sustainable businesses in the country.”

Submissions close on 3 June 2013 and details of the project and application process are available on the project website – www.ventureengine.lk. Application assistance can also be obtained by sending in inquiries to [email protected].