Cutting-edge insights for entrepreneurs and exporters at Kandy IT/BPM Week

IT/BPM Export Forum and Entrepreneurship Workshop to be held on 11 June

With the aim of empowering budding Lankan entrepreneurs, the IT/BPM Export Forum and Entrepreneurship Workshop, facilitated by SLASSCOM’s Kandy IT/BPM Week, will provide valuable insights on leveraging the local ecosystem to build up successful companies and how to take them to the global marketplace.

This full day session, which will take place on the second day of the Kandy IT/BPM Week, will feature a top line-up of Sri Lanka’s established and upcoming entrepreneurs and top professionals representing the Export Development Board (EDB), who will speak on an array of topics ranging from their own life experiences in building up successful business to the support that can be extended to business people by the EDB.

Held on 11 June at Queen’s Hotel, Kandy, the first half of the day will consist of the IT/BPM Export Forum, which will see top officials from the EDB delving into useful areas such as the support available from the EDB to exporters to the potential of BPM in Kandy. The Information and Communications Technology Agency of Sri Lanka will deliver an eye-opening session on the national IT/BPM outlook and the support it can offer to Lankan exporters. This will be followed by case studies of IFS’s Kandy operation and Square Mobile, along with a SLASSCOM study on the potential for setting up a BPM operation in Kandy. 

The second half will feature a number of top entrepreneurs and thought leaders at the entrepreneurship workshop, targeting those who are planning to start up their own business and people who already run their own businesses in Kandy and around the country. From how focus and persistence helps you to be successful to identifying winning ideas and executing quickly, this session will cover the main aspects of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. The agenda will also encompass an interesting segment where participants will be able to pitch their ideas to the panellists and get expert opinion and advice on their startups.  

Speakers and panellists at the IT/BPM Export Forum include IFS World Vice President and COO Ranil Rajapakse, Square Mobile Founder Tharindu Dasanayake, ICTA Program Manager Sachindra Samararatne, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka EDB Director – Export Services Saman Maldeni, 99X Technology Co-Founder and CEO Mano Sekaram, OpenArc Chairman/CEO Daya Hettiarachchi and Ernst & Young Senior Director Praveen Ruberu. 

Calcey Founder and CEO Mangala Karunarathne, Stax Inc Managing Director Ruwindhu Peiris, SAIG and Orion Director/CEO Jeevan Gnanam, Cinergix Co-Founder and CEO Chandika Jayasundara, iHelmet Inventor Ganindu Nanayakkara, and Talliance Director Ashique M. Ali, among others, will feature at the Entrepreneurship Forum. Both sessions will be facilitated by the Export Development Board and supported by SLASSCOM. 

The Kandy IT/BPM Week is an initiative to create much-needed IT/BPM capacity in Sri Lanka spearheaded by SLASSCOM and supported by the Export Development Board (EDB), Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) and the Ministry of Education (MOE). A follow-up to the highly successful Jaffna IT Week held earlier, this is a series of events that advocates the creation of regional cities to bring about inclusive growth in the country. It will be held from 10-12 June in various locations in and around Kandy. 

For more information about the IT/BPM Export Forum and Entrepreneurship Workshop and to register for both events, please visit kandyitbpmweek.com or contact Ranuka Kariyawasam via [email protected] or 0114 062223-7. For regular updates on the Kandy IT Week, check out the Facebook page www.facebook.com/kandyitbpm.