Disrupt Asia words of advice: Implementation the key, failure part of success
hile start-ups are, in today’s technologically advanced competitive world, growing rapidly with innovative ideas, ‘business English’ needs to be implemented from kindergarten onwards in Sri Lanka for this ecosystem to succeed.
This piece of advice came from Cheryl Edison, CEO of Edison International in San Francisco, a social entrepreneur and global business development expert, at the Disrupt Asia 2017 Conference held at the Hilton Colombo on Wednesday. The event drew more than 450 guests while there were close to 40 budding and already-established, start-ups making a pitch in a bid to attract investors.
She said, “For Sri Lankan startups to be successful, business English has to be implemented from kindergarten. This will help kids to negotiate, communicate, network and build connections from small days.” A common business language can also gear up e-commerce in the country, she added.
Sri Lanka can become a superpower start-up ecosystem. While there are many innovation, engineering and creative ideas coming from millennials, the entrepreneurial culture has to change, stressed Ms. Edison.
She also mentioned that startups can advance goals by the following aspects: Make, see, explore, empathise, define, ideate, prototype, time and money and implement.
She also pointed out that Sri Lanka needs to focus on infrastructure, information and services, makerspaces, start-ups and funding.
At the conference, during a panel discussion on ‘Is Sri Lanka ready for the Digital Age?’, TWCorp (Pvt) Ltd Chairman, Thilan Wijesinghe mentioned that Sri Lanka’s entrepreneurial culture has to change to move into digital. There there are also certain restrictions for talent in Sri Lanka, he added.
Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chief Economist, Anushka Wijesinha stated that lots of Sri Lankan companies have not moved into digital whereas startups can help them make digital the priority.
Arunesh Peter, Director (Projects) at the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) said that private sector has embraced the change to digital. The desire has to come from the government sector to implement digital. “Sri Lanka doesn’t have proper channels to bring out the talent. The education system needs to improve in the country to lead innovation in the next 10 years,” he added.
Quantei Managing Director, Ima Hassen speaking on ‘Digital Security: What your start-up needs to know’, stated that security has to be implemented in a start-up company from the time of beginning of the company. “Security is a consideration on technology and the best practices. There is a misconception about security in the outside world,” he added.
He also mentioned that security for a start-up company is also about protecting the brand and retaining the credibility. For a start-up, the eco-system security has to be considered by everyone in the organisation from the top management downwards, he noted.
During a discussion on ‘Opportunities and obstacles for fast scaling start-ups’, Crowdisland CEO, Chalinda Abeykoon mentioned that there are plenty of innovative ideas coming from Sri Lankan entrepreneurs, but they lack execution. “Start-ups are not about generating money but creating a value. Understand the industry that you’re playing in. You need the maturity and experience to startup a company,” he noted.
PickMe Founder and CEO Jiffry Zulfer stated, “If you don’t start up a company now you will not do it later. Failure is not the end of everything, start again from the beginning but execute properly.”
ICTA Chairperson, Chitrangani Mubarak mentioned that the Sri Lankan start-up eco-system is still in the infant stage with around 300 companies projecting revenue of US$30 million. “To drive innovation we need start-ups and entrepreneurs. Coding should be taught for kids from kindergarten while digital classrooms should also be implemented at all Sri Lankan schools,” she noted.
Kevin Petrovic, a partner at CustomSpace and President at Carbon 70 Holdings in San Francisco, during his keynote speech mentioned, “Start-ups need to start small, it’s easier to learn. You can do it on the side while you study at the university or doing a full time job. Make something people want. When you can’t innovate, copy. Get help from advisors and programmes. Talk to the customers, the changes and adapt. It’s really hard but don’t give up.”
He noted that failure is good, you learn a lot. “Many start-ups start as side projects. You are not your customer. If you don’t try you will definitely not succeed.”