YES Academy students launch Spartans Holdings, another Sri Lankan first

The second batch of YES Academy’s Certified Practical Brand Manager coaching batch launched a company on their own, signifying yet another innovation by recording another Sri Lankan first.

YES Academy students now own Spartans Holdings, a company that is set to handle distribution and event management. So far they have managed to acquire two brands to distribute and their Indian launch was also a success.

YES Academy Founder and Managing Director Hashan Haputhanthri said: “It is great milestone for YES Academy. Our philosophy ‘Passion, Guts, Victory’ is practiced. I always encouraged innovations and this time it became a reality. What YES Academy students did was to establish a new precedent to the lethargic institutional, theoretical and a boring marketing educational arena that is prevailing in this country. The marketing and branding educational set up was changed by YES Academy. Our Certified Practical Brand Manager coaching programme has many practical dimensions – a creative workshop, a BTL tour, a 8 to 8 sales training in the field, acting in a commercial, directing a photo shoot, workshop for photography/videography, an entrepreneurial field based brand assignment, actual brand launches, training on creative finance for brand managers and most of all coaching them to be entrepreneurial brand managers are a few facts of the four months of study. 

“We have moved out of the age old, traditional, boring class room structure of lecturing marketing. We are a coaching academy and we create strategists not game players. We encourage students to take high risks and be business minded. Spartans Holdings is a result of that great commitment to be leaders in branding and after all that is what organisations want today, we deliver practical, entrepreneurial, strategic brand managers.”

Spartans Holdings Chairman Sasindra Umega said: “It is a great milestone for us. We never expected this type of a training from YES Academy. We formed Spartans Holdings to handle FMCG and non FMCG brands and within four days we acquired two brands. It is a huge victory for us and as students of YES Academy. Our launch in India was a great success.”

Spartans Director Chamikara Jayakody stated: “We are truly grateful for Hashan Haputhanthri for the legendary work he is doing to the fraternity. He is training us to be fully fledged practical, entrepreneurial, strategic brand managers. I am now able to see the other side of theory. YES Academy’s CPBM has changed my life.”

Spartans Director Udara Hettiarachchi said: “Students forming a company while getting coached to be practical, entrepreneurial, strategic brand managers was a dream coming true. YES Academy’s CPBM is a great coaching programme. It has moved out from the tradition and has set a new trend in the industry. With Spartans Holdings venturing out for distribution and finishing plans to go global is an experience a young brand manager should not miss. I am proud to be a YES Academy student.”

YES Academy was established in 2015 as a result of wanting to challenge the traditional ‘student and the lecturer’ syndrome prevailing in Sri Lanka. The sole objective at YES academy is to create a practical human and ‘Unleash Your Passion’ is the motto. It is ‘entrepreneur and coach’ based where the entirety is set to create practical, entrepreneurial, strategic brand managers to the fraternity. 

The Certified Practical Brand Manager coaching programme replaces class-room type diplomas that can be done through 80% theory. Students travelling abroad to be coached by veterans of marketing, branding and finance was a new aspect introduced by YES Academy.

YES Academy is the brainchild of Hashan Haputhanthri (Founder/MD), currently the Head of Marketing for TVS Lanka, recently won Gold awards for the Prestigious SLIM Product Brand of the Year and SLIM Innovative Brand of the Year and won the Silver for Turnaround Brand of the Year for TVS Lanka. Haputhanthri earlier in 2012 won the Turnaround Brand of the Year Gold for Maliban Smart Cream Cracker. He was recently conferred as one of the ‘Most Influential Marketing Leaders’ among Top 100 Global Marketing Heads. Haputhanthri is the founder of YES Academy (Sri Lanka’s only coaching academy for branding/marketing) and invented the Ignite motivational coaching programme which he launched internationally. 

A successful marketing/brand strategist, eminent author cum philosopher of ‘Travis Brandsology’ (the first Asian philosophy for brands) and the co-author on branding for ‘The Book for Entrepreneurs’ in India, he was recently appointed to the Advisory Council of Centre for Education Growth and Research of New Delhi. He is the first Sri Lankan to be appointed to this superior council and he joins great Indian scholars of branding/marketing and education. CEGR is the largest research based entity where they focus highly on skilling India.

Having more than 20 years of brand marketing experience for both Food and Non Food, Haputhanthri headed brands like Nivea, Maliban Biscuits (instrumental in launching Maliban Smart Cream Crackers) and in Fiji Islands – Sunquick, Weetbics, Royal Tea, Island Chill Mineral water and 30 other major brands. Haputhanthri has done research in Inca, Egypt and Sri Lankan symbology. He has further researched color psychology and namelogy as well.  Brand marketing and nonconventional marketing are his inventions and newly-revamped Diploma in Strategic Brand Management for SLIM is also his 

invention.