Global platform needed to drive social entrepreneurship

The International Conference on Social Entrepreneurship (ICSE), held for the first time in Sri Lanka recently, came to a successful conclusion by fulfilling an essential requirement of creating a global platform for establishing a much needed drive towards social entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka.

Though the first of its kind, the participation at the conference was encouraging with a collective audience comprising academia, scholars, students, policy makers, researchers, entrepreneurs and business communities from around the globe, participating in discussions and sharing real-life experiences in this specialized field, the organisers said in a media release. “Social entrepreneurship is emerging as a business trend around the globe at present. It will definitely take the place of CSR in another 5-10 years from now. In essence, social entrepreneurship talks about a business model that has an ingrained mechanism of making profit simultaneous to adding value to society.

Thus, such businesses – unlike those with tactical, alienated initiatives under the guise of CSR - have a genuine approach towards social responsibility from the inception itself,” said Dr. Nishreen Nisham, Co-chair of the ICSE conference.

The discussions were categorised under 13 different streams to cover a broader perspective regarding social entrepreneurship, its relevance and execution.

Topics such as Green Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprise: the next generation of CSR, effective strategies for sustainable business through social enterprise, the role of educational institutions in fostering SE amongst youth, and women in social enterprise were discussed with other topics in the agenda to enlight- en the audience and encourage ideation and contextualization, of each specific topic.

Thematic presentations were made by an eminent panel of speakers at the conference: the Chair and Chief Guest of the conference, Dr. Faiz Shah-Head of Development Management at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok and DirectorYunus Centre, who has over 30 years of experience in change management and capacity-building; Dr. Nayana Dehigama-Founder Chairman / Managing Director, EPIC Technology Group; Prof. Ranjith Bandara- an Economics Professor at the University of Colombo; Dian GomesChairman, Hela Clothing and Dr. Lalith Edirisinghe-Head of Department of Logistics and Transport, CINEC Campus, were amongst them.

Associate Professor, Julie Ross, who presented her paper under the title of ‘The use of traditional Biomass fuels for running a glass furnace, to create a micro enterprise for low income rural communities in Sri Lanka’, sharing her thoughts, highlighted the need of focusing on ‘Sustainability’ element when initiating CSR or Green projects.

“Through business, one must be able to make a lasting impact on key elements of Sustainability: Environmental, Social as well as Economical, to be successful in social responsibility,” she opined.

The ICSE 2016 was organized by the Colombo School of Business Management – a young organization with interests in developing leaders within South East Asia through hands-on, practical programmes.

The Academy for Global Business Advancement-Sri Lanka Chapter, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies of the University of Kelaniya, Asian Institute of Technology - Thailand and Colombo Internal Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC) also collaborated.

It was held at the CINEC CampusMalabe over two days with the participation of a larger audience rich with firsthand experience in nurturing social entrepreneurship in numerous ways.

Though the first of its kind, the participation at the conference was encouraging with a collective audience comprising academia, scholars, students, policy makers, researchers, entrepreneurs and business communities from around the globe, participating in discussions and sharing real-life experiences in this specialized field, the organisers said in a media release.

The Sunday Times Business Club (STBC) held its Christmas/endyear party on a grand scale at the Kingsbury Colombo, the club’s host hotel, on Sunday December 18.

Games, dancing competitions, face painting for children and gifts from a host of sponsors dominat- ed the proceedings enlightened by a professional choir singing carols and the ubiquitous Santa Claus.

The evening’s proceedings were coordinated by a team comprising Sampath Kulatunga, Ravinash Perera, Shantha Dias Gunaratne, Anura Perera, Prasanna Samarasinghe, S. Shankar, Harsha Pathiraja, Chathuranga Perera and Dhammika Weerakoon. The organisers thanked the sponsors and the hotel staff for making the event one of the most memorable in recent years. Here is a combination of pictures by Indika Handuwala taken at the party .