Lankan Angel Network and Ideamart present #IAMHER Startup Spotlight
Only 4 percent of Sri Lankan start-ups have female founders, according to the Start-up Sri Lanka 2015 report. To aid in bridging this gap, the Lankan Angel Network and Ideamart recently presented #IAMHER Startup Spotlight.
Kicking off with a panel made up of well-respected industry leaders like AOD Colombo and Fashionmarket. lk Founder Linda Speldewinde, Sri Lanka Export Development Board Chairperson Indira Malwatte, former Sri Lanka ICT Agency Chairperson Chitranganie Mubarak, Ernst & Young Partner Anoji De Silva and Iron One Technologies Co Founder and CEO Lakmini Wijesundara, the introductory session of this half-day programme focused on the common challenges faced by women entrepreneurs.
The audience, comprising female founders of startups, as well as other women entrepreneurs, also received valuable advice on how they could overcome issues and thrive in the local marketplace.
Geared towards building and supporting a gender balanced start-up ecosystem, #IAMHER is an initiative by the Lankan Angel Network, Sri Lankan’s largest network of angel investors and Ideamart, a webbased platform where anyone can utilize telco APIS to create their own services and make it a revenue-generating tool.
It is the aim of the #IAMHER initiative to foster and give due recognition to women-led ventures, while at the same time increasing the participation of female angel investors in the start-up ecosystem.
Endorsing the #IAMHER initiative, Speldewinde noted that stories of strong and impactful women entrepreneurs were positive messages that were particularly important today. Women must take the initiative and inspire each other, striving to become change makers instead of being portrayed as victims.
Further, Speldewinde is a patron of the Lankan Angel Network, which also features other highly-respected women leaders as members, including Indian Angel Network President Padmaja Ruparel, CIMB Investment Bank Sri Lanka CEO Anarkali Moonesinghe, Mclarens Group Group Joint Managing Director Shehara Jayawardana and Unity Group Singapore Project Director Tamara Dunne.
Since its launch in 2012, the Lankan Angel Network has grown to encompass 25 startups, with over Rs.2 billion invested. Several of these startups have dynamic women as founders or members of the founding team, such as Nithya, Mywish, Endemic, PUSH, House of Lonali, Saraii Village, Zigzag and Glitteray.
Additionally, women-led start-ups like Quebee Den, Plushbox, Skrumptious and Pregbuddy have also been promoted and mentored as part of Venture Engine, which is another strategic initiative of the Lankan Angel Network.
The Lankan Angel Network continues to encourage women investors, mentors and entrepreneurs to join in and actively participate in its many initiatives. Visit www. lankanangelnetwork.com for more information on the Lankan Angel Network and how to apply for membership or submit a start-up business plan.
#IAMHER Startup Spotlight was sponsored by Glitteray, in collaboration with IEEE Women in Engineering Informatics Institute of Technology Affinity Chapter. The gifting partner for the event was Plushbox, the digital content partner was Roar and the beverages partner was Kuvings, from Promo Lanka Marketing.
Speaking at the event, Malwatte brought in both public- and private-sector viewpoints, urging the assembled audience of young women entrepreneurs to be professional, pursue their dreams and never let being women become a barrier.
Adding to this, Mubarak commented that getting more women involved in the workplace made sense from an economic perspective, going on to indicate that studies show that when more women are included in decision-making roles there was a 15 percent value addition.
#IAMHER Startup Spotlight concluded with a competition for women-led start-ups, which was judged by a distinguished panel featuring Women in Management Founder and Chairperson Sulochana Segera, Dialog Axiata PLC Customer Experience Management General Manager Rekha Weerasooriya, Glitteray Founder and CEO Rayhana Iyne and the Lankan Angel Network Board Members Promolanka Holdings CEO Adil Mansoor and Stax Inc and Remote Sensing Metrics Founder Arj Wignaraja.
The winner of this competition was Shaheeqa Siraj (Store-kit), while the first and second runners-up were Pulani Ranasinghe (Elearni) and Team Codettes (Guardian), respectively.
Teams Amazon (Automated Voting System) and Unwonted Coders (KAMA) also participated.
These five women-led startups were sourced from a talent pool of 35 applicants. Winners will be mentored by the Lankan Angel Network to take part in the next Venture Engine programme.