Award winning IIT graduate in the forefront of Sri Lanka’s training and fashion industry
During the 27 years of excellence, the Informatics Institute of Technology has produced leading innovators, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. The institute is renowned for producing all-round students who are able to empower organizations and drive success.
Prassanna Pathmanathan is one such all-round graduate from IIT who has made strides in the corporate world and achieved much success in his career. Prassanna who is a past pupil of D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo – 07, is an award winning Creative Entrepreneur, Communication/PR/Fashion Consultant, Corporate Trainer and Lecturer.He is the Founder CEO/ Lead Trainer – UltimmaTraining, President of Colombo Fashion Council, Fashion Consultant, Pageant Trainer, Stylist and Lecturer at IIT and University of Sri Jayawardenapura.
Prassanna who is an alumnus of University of Westminster (UK) and University of Wales (UK), was recently awarded the Top 100 Corporate Trainers at the Global Training and Development Leadership Awards for 2016, Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Sri Lanka (TOYP) for 2016 and the award for the Most Outstanding Corporate Trainer in South Asia for 2016 at the South Asian Business Excellence Awards.
Following are excerpts of the interview with Prassanna who spoke of his journey towards corporate success;
Could you provide a brief description about yourself?
I am Prassanna Pathmanathan, a Corporate Trainer, Business Consultant, Marketing Specialist, Lecturer, Researcher and I run a training and consulting company named “Ultimma”. I have been appointed as the President of Colombo Fashion Council which gives opportunities for the Sri Lankan fashion and design talents. Moreover, I am a fashion stylists, a fashion show producer, a choreographer and a pageant trainer.
I joined IIT in 2005 straight after my A/Levels and in my first year I followedB.Sc (Hons) Software Engineering from the University of Westminster (UK) which is offered at IIT. Although I got 8 A’s for my first year I didn’t enjoy programming much, therefore, from my 2nd year I shifted my degree to B.Sc (Hons) Information Systems with Business Management. I performed well and completed my degree in 2009 with a first-class Honors and I became the gold medalist by topping the batch.
You recently won several awards which is a testament of your dedication and passion towards your line of work. Could you explain further regarding your achievements?
I have won several awards in IT, Marketing, Training, Voluntary Service, Fashion and Design. My recent awards were very close to my heart. In October 2016, I won the Most Outstanding Corporate Trainer in South Asia for 2016 at the South Asian Business Excellence Awards and Partnership Summit by outshining the contestants from eight South Asian countries.
Then last December, I won the most prestigious Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Sri Lanka for 2016 (TOYP) award by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) in the category- Humanitarian and Voluntary Service for my CSR initiative Island wide “Make it Happen” which empowers rural women and students.
My most recent award which I won this year in February was the 100 Global Leadership Award for Training and Development which was awarded to the top 100 Corporate Trainers in the world and I am really privileged to receive this recognition among the top world leaders in Training and Development.
In 2014, I won the Bronze award at the Cannes Lions Young Marketer of Sri Lanka.Then in 2012, I won the Young Creative Entrepreneur of the year Award outshining 300 contestants over 25 creative Industries and became the youngest Creative Entrepreneur in the world in 2012.
How has IIT helped you to become an innovator and corporate leader?
At IIT we have not just learnt academic subjects. We were always trained to develop our personality, leadership and etiquette skills. This helped me to become a thought leader in many different areas. Furthermore, we were always encouraged to take part in competitions organized by various bodies and organizations and that helped us to improve our presentation skills, analytical skills and made me who I am today. We were directly involved with planning, organizing, controlling events. We were encouraged to make decisions on our own when it comes to events we organized and activities we took part. We had the privilege of meeting with industry experts and improving ourselves. That’s how I became an innovator and a corporate leader.
As an alumnus and a lecturer from IIT, could you comment on how students and graduates from IIT are achieving great success in the corporate and IT sectors?
I started lecturing at IIT right after my graduation. It’s been seven years now being a Lecturer and as a project supervisor for final year projects at IIT. As Lecturers, the effort we put in our students to give them an overall experience of IT and Business and the way we mold them to become a better employee for a corporate or a better entrepreneur for the business world is extraordinary. Our students are in the forefront of any business competition or a startup competition or a IT hackathon around Sri Lanka. We have continuously won competitions such as Microsoft Imagine Cup, National Best Quality Software Awards, E-Swabimani Awards and Global Student Entrepreneur Awards.
What was your campus experience like at IIT? Did you participate in any extracurricular activities at IIT?
My experience at IIT campus was so amazing. I took part in all IT and Business related competitions. I was the Publication Director for the Students Union. I was once involved in organizing the IIT sports meet which was a huge success. I am a trained classical dancer and singer and therefore I had an opportunity to perform at the annual talent show of IIT “Stage Craft” for three years and emerged as the best solo dancer in all three years. I was also able to be a speaker at a press conference organized by IIT, then I went on a tour to speak about the student life at IIT in various schools. I took part and won an award at Cutting Edge, which is the annual innovation exhibition organized by IIT in 2009. As you see at IIT we gain an overall experience to become a better person in the society.
What advice can you give to those who want to become entrepreneurs and corporate leader someday?
My biggest advice is to have passion and have a unique idea if you want to become an entrepreneur. If you want to become popular and rich overnight,entrepreneurship is not the right thing for you. You need to have a lot of patience to succeed. You also need proper planning and build your network. Never give up on your dreams and one day you will be able to succeed as an entrepreneur.
What are your future plans?
Well I never thought of being able to achieve all what I have achieved today five years back. At this point of my life, the future looks very promising. I so badly want to have international branches of my training company Ultimma. Also, I aspire to go and explore other international markets in Training and Consulting. I also have many plans for Colombo Fashion Council. I want to empower more Sri Lankan designers to take their talent to the international stage. I also want to start my men’s wear label in the near future and also move into tech entrepreneurship.