The Best Young Entrepreneurs Award of Ampara District - 2014

Youth Business Sri Lanka (YBSL) recently recognised the efforts of the Ampara district’s micro scale entrepreneurs, by awarding them with the best young entrepreneur of the district award.

Accordingly, H.A. Deepal  Priyadharshana,  a young micro scale entrepreneur, who operates a three wheeler repair and a service center was chosen as, ‘The Best young entrepreneur’ of the Ampara district, while  M. Hansul Fareed, who runs a fruit juice bottling and a Milk processing business, was chosen as the Runner up of the competition.

H.A. Deepal  Priyadharshana, ‘The Best young entrepreneur - runner ’ of the Ampara district

 M. Hansul Fareed, ‘The Best young entrepreneur - Runner up’ of the Ampara district

The Best young female entrepreneur award of the Ampara district was given to Miss H.A. Himali Manimelika, who runs a mushroom cultivation and a distribution business, while the best young upcoming entrepreneur award was given to Miss. H.M.D. Pushpika Ishani .

Miss H.A. Himali Manimelika, 'The Best young female entrepreneur award' of the Ampara district 

Miss. H.M.D. Pushpika Ishani, 'The best young upcoming entrepreneur ' award' of the Ampara district

They were recorgnised during the YBSL Young entrepreneur award & Youth Mini Trade Fair, which was held in Ampara district recently.

All the above awarded entrepreneurs comes under the Chambers YBSL program, which has given them training on entrepreneurship and also helped them start their businesses by empowering those youngsters with the required finances.

The latest effort, is a part of the YBSL’s aim to recognise the district wise entrepreneurs natured by them. 

Visit to our website: http://www.ybsl.lk/

SEMINAR ON “THE WHAT & WHY OF MENTORING”

YBSL and The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce organized a seminar on Mentoring for Corporates on Friday 5th September 2014 from 09.00 am to 11.00 am at Ground Floor Auditorium, The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. The main aim of this programme was to explore mentoring within the personnel of all ages in Corporates and how to create an effective & efficient environment around them.

The Seminar was conducted by Mr. John Cull, International Training & Management Consultant of Youth Business International – YBI from UK. 

During the seminar

During the seminar

During the seminar

During the seminar

During the seminar

Visit to our website: http://www.ybsl.lk/

MENTOR TOT WORKSHOP FOR DISTRICT TEAMS

A mentor training of trainer (TOT) workshop was conducted for district YBSL team by YBSL. This training was facilitated by Mr. John Cull - YBI consultant and Rajesh - YBSL National mentoring coordinator on 4th September 2014 at the conference room of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. District mentoring coordinators and mentors from Ampara, Vavuniya, Mannar, Batticaloa, Kandy, Hambantota, Trincomalee and Anuradhapura districts participated in the workshop. 

YBSL national mentoring team

During the workshop

During the workshop

During the workshop

During the workshop

During the workshop

Visit to our website: http://www.ybsl.lk/

THE MOTIVATOR AWARDS

Youth Business Sri Lanka honored its past chairmen, board of trustees, mentors and partners who have been with YBSL from its inception and assisted in guiding its success. The event was held on 4^th September 2014 at The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce auditorium. 

Also Mr. John Cull, Consultant of Youth Business International was honored as the motivator by YBSL at this event.

Past Chairman Mr. J.D. Bandaranayake receiving The Motivator award from present Chairman Mr. Samantha Ranathunga  

Immediate Past Chairman Dr. Anura Ekanayake receiving The Motivator award from present Chairman Mr. Samantha Ranathunga

Board of Trustee Mr. Nihal Abeysekara receiving The Motivator award from present Chairman Mr. Samantha Ranathunga

Board of Trustee Mr. Abbas Esufally receiving The Motivator award from present Chairman Mr. Samantha Ranathunga

YBSL partner Ms. Sanjeewani De Silva from Standard Charted Bank receiving The Motivator award from Mr. John Cull

Mentor manual launching by YBSL past chairmen

YBSL Mentor Mr. Nilan Kanagaratnam receiving mentor certificate from Deputy Secretary General of CCC Ms. Alikie Perera  

Visit to our website: http://www.ybsl.lk/

YOUTH BUSINESS SRI LANKA LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE AND MENTORING MANUAL

Youth Business Sri Lanka (YBSL) took the initiative to empower young Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to move to the next level with the launch of a new website on 4th September 2014, Wednesday.

The website will provide a wider reach within the country for the organisation which was incorporated within the auspices of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce since 2007, and will also increase the accessibility to a wealth of knowledge and experience from the many business leaders who volunteer their expertise to the YBSL. It can be reached at www.ybsl.lk. 

YBSL, which is modelled after Youth Business International (YBI), provides young entrepreneurs from many regions the necessary support in mentoring, acquiring funds and setting up their businesses.
The work carried out by the YBSL most significantly contributes to the national development by providing a feasible solution to the youth unemployment rate which, according to YBSL Chairman Samantha Ranatunga, is currently at about 30%. Such a statistic cannot be ignored if the country is to reach its ambitious targets for economic growth.
He noted: “A program of this magnitude can play significant role in addressing some of the problems that this country has and take the country to that economic targets that all of us envisage that we should have.”
YBSL Past Chairman Dr. Anura Ekanayake stressed on the importance of empowering the youth when it comes to maintaining social balance, saying: “Youth unemployment is an enormous destabilising factor for society in its entirety. If you look at the Arab Spring where there was a range of uprising and political upheavals, some of which is still not settled, one common factor was youth unemployment. We are tired of conflict. We have had several youth uprisings and a civil war. That is the reason why we are thought that promoting entrepreneurship in areas outside the metropolis is of critical importance for the nation.”

He also spoke on how the public sector may not be able to create enough jobs to accommodate these young job seekers in their full capacity: “When you look at the overall situation in Sri Lanka we cannot think of any possibility of expanding State sector employment anymore because we have one of the largest public services in the whole world. For every 14 to 15 Sri Lankan citizens (including newborn babies), we have a public servant. It’s no wonder we have a budget deficit of high single digits. A lot of the macro economic problems of the country are resulting from this budget deficit so the unemployment issue can’t be solved by providing public sector jobs for people.”

He further pointed out that when mentoring young entrepreneurs, focus should be placed on more sustainable business practices such as value addition instead of simply engaging in “trading activities”.

Thanks to Daily FT
Visit to our website: http://www.ybsl.lk/

YBSL SUPPORTS MEMBERS OF SRI LANKA EX MILTARY WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION “VIRULIYA SEVANA” ON ENTREPRENEUR TRAINING

Youth Business Sri Lanka, trained the members of Sri Lanka Ex-Army Women's Association “Viruliya Sevana” .The training program was arranged on 18^th of June in Viruliya Sevana Auditorium by Major Ramani Kangaraarachchi Founder President of Sri Lanka Ex-Miltary Women's Association. 25 members of Ex-service women of the three forces actively participated in the training workshop. YBSL Entrepreneur level – I training model has been introduced to them by YBSL team. This training workshop helped participants to learn how to identify their skills, strengths and weaknesses,  how to overcome the risks and challenges in building their ventures. 

An ice breaker during the workshop

YBSL and Viruliya Sevana team

Visit to our website: http://www.ybsl.lk/

YBSL EXTENDS THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO NEW YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

Another 17 younger entrepreneurs of Vavuniya district have received financial support from YBSL under British Asia Trust (BAT) funding. The special event held on 9^th July 2014 at Auditorium of VDCCIA and arranged by YBSL Vavuniya unit.  The board of directors of VDCCIA, members of mentor committee, mentors and young entrepreneurs have participated in the event. 88% of young entrepreneurs are female and 75% of them are already in the businesses. And these entrepreneurs are being matched with mentors for next year and YBSL project team and mentoring committee closely monitoring them in order self-sustain.   

An entrepreneur receives the loan from President of VDCCIA 

An entrepreneur receives the loan from Secretary of VDCCIA  

An entrepreneur the receives loan from a mentor