“The objective is to raise funds, hire talent, create networks, and to launch businesses from Chile while leveraging and interacting fully with the local entrepreneurship ecosystem”

Anushka says, adding that it is the ideal opportunity for bootstrapping individuals to receive funding without ceding equity, while utilising one of the strongest Latin American economies as their launching pad.

“The programme lets you meet an array of different entrepreneurs and you create a network within them,” Anushka says. In terms of what Chile expects out of the participants, Anushka tells us that they aim at interaction with their local community, engagement in activities, workshops, social impact programmes and eventually giving back to Chile on an entrepreneurial level.

‘ Start- Up Chile’ has been featured in The Economist , BusinessWeek, Te chCr unch , and Forbes, among others, as a pathway to a global business phenomenon. While a natural question of braindrain may rise, the organisers deny the fact by stating that the ownership of any business idea shall remain with the participant. While they say that any team can go back to their country of origin and implement the idea on a larger- scale, thus giving revenue back to their home land.

Anushka and Chaminda came up with Knowrom - an online platform for students to share information on universities— reviews, photos or videos, or even events and educational materials. The first three features are meant to provide potential students with an inside view of the university and also to help students familiarise themselves with the university they’ve decided on.

So far, five teams from Sri Lanka have been selected to participate in the progra mme.