Hayleys Advantis celebrates greatest innovators in grand finale of Advantis Ideastorm 2.0

Hayleys Group Chairman and Chief Executive Mohan Pandithage together with Hayleys Advantis Managing Director and Hayleys Group Executive Director Ruwan Waidyaratne presenting the Gold Award to Lilip Sanjeewa, Capt. Mahendra Ranatunga, Jeevaka Gunadheera, Surindha De Abrew and Maazud Marzook

Showcasing the power of employee-led innovation, Hayleys Advantis Ltd., the transportation and logistics arm of the Hayleys Group, concluded Advantis Ideastorm 2.0 – the second season of the ideation platform introduced in 2020 to boost innovative thinking across all levels of staff.

“Our leadership position in the Sri Lankan and regional transportation and logistics sector is built on the unmatched knowledge and expertise of the Advantis team and the unique culture of innovation that we have consistently nurtured. Particularly in the context of a historic economic downturn, our ability to harness our team’s creativity to deliver maximum value has been the bedrock of our continuing success. Therefore, we take great inspiration from the remarkably creative ideas that emerged during Advantis Ideastorm 2.0, and take this opportunity to congratulate our winning innovators, and look forward to putting their ideas into action,” Hayleys Advantis Managing Director Ruwan Waidyaratne said.

Advantis Ideastorm empowers employees to deploy out-of-the-box thinking to create and hone innovative solutions to real-world challenges. Similar to the previous cycle, the innovators of Advantis Ideastorm 2.0 were challenged with developing strategic ideas under two categories: Revenue Generation and Service Optimisation.

In the lead-up to the grand finale, many new initiatives were introduced this season to drive innovative thinking. An ‘innovation hour’ was declared every Friday, solely dedicated to ideation. The company also hosted an inspirational movie night with a special knowledge-sharing session featuring guest speaker Heminda Jayaweera, an eminent innovator and entrepreneur, to inspire ingenuity and creativity among staff. By the end of the ideation phase, over 50 innovative proposals were submitted for evaluation.

Participants were given one month to submit comprehensive proposals, which were evaluated by two preliminary judging rounds by the Heads of Advantis Business and Service Units, and the Advantis Group Management Committee (GMC), respectively. Notably, this year’s judging panel was also expanded to infuse fresh youth-led perspectives into the evaluation process and further elevate the creativity of the final proposals.

Moreover, the finalists of the top 15 teams were privy to a one-day boot camp conducted by sought-after start-up mentor and external consultant for Advantis Ideastorm, Dr. Nirmal De Silva. The session took a deep dive into the submission process and studied the validation of assumptions made while fine-tuning the pitches further.

Advantis Ideastorm grand finale closely resembles the well-known reality television series for aspiring entrepreneurs, Shark Tank. Each team was given 10 minutes to pitch their ideas, with judges given five minutes to clarify their positions.

“The ideas this season are far more sophisticated and ambitious. This speaks to our employees’ passion and unmatched dedication and further validates our commitment to nurturing a culture of innovation across our organisation,” emphasised Hayleys Advantis Chief Strategy Officer Virendra Perera.

This season’s prestigious Gold Award was won by Team Advantis Ships which included Jeevaka Gunadheera, Capt. Mahendra Ranatunga, Lilip Sanjeewa, Maazud Marzook and Surindha De Abrew for an innovative shipping solution. The Silver Award was won by Team Advantis 3PL Plus, composed of Isuru Jayasooriya, Sagara Perera, Ushan Rathnayake, Dilmi Fernando and Dayal Sandanayake. Meanwhile, the Bronze Award was won by Team Advantis 3PL Plus, which included Malaka Yattigala, Nayani Rathnasiri, Kasun Bandara, Pradeep Alwis and Lahiru Udawatta. Merit Awards were also presented to six teams. 

“Advantis Ideastorm 2.0 encouraged us to identify and capture opportunities for innovation. It has been a challenging process, but it has also been a unique and empowering one for the entire team to be given the space to think creatively and systematically collaborate towards solving real-world challenges,” said the Leader of the Gold Award-winning team, Jeevaka Gunadheera. 

Hayleys Group Chairman and Chief Executive Mohan Pandithage together with Hayleys Advantis Managing Director and Hayleys Group Executive Director Ruwan Waidyaratne presenting the Silver Award to Sagara Perera, Dayal Sandanayake, Isuru Jayasooriya, Ushan Rathnayake and Dilmi Fernando

Hayleys Advantis Managing Director and Hayleys Group Executive Director Ruwan Waidyaratne presenting the Bronze Award to Pradeep Alwis, Kasun Bandara, Nayani Rathnasiri, Malaka Yattigala and Lahiru Udawatte