Online platform for young entrepreneurs

A national initiative 'Entrepreneurial Reawakening - Building a Better Tomorrow for the Lankan Entrepreneur', to push Sri Lanka's Facebook generation to the spirit of entrepreneurship was unveiled in Colombo on Monday.

A joint effort by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the National Enterprise Development Authority (NEDA) of Sri Lanka, the pioneering initiative leverages on the surging online space via a youth biz-oriented web portal.

Internet based services in Sri Lanka reported steady growth in recent years and in 2014, it grew by 9%. Use of online services such as Facebook, Youtube and Viber by Lankan youth is a key driver resulting in this surge.

'Doing Business Guidebook', Vyavasayakaya newsletter and the web portal for youth entrepreneurs was also launched.

Director, ILO Country Office for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Li Donglin, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen and State Minister of Industry and Commerce, Champika Premadasa were also present.

NEDA pioneered the online platform with the technical and financial support of the ILO to provide up to date info for young entrepreneurs in the three languages while enabling it to function as a one-stop 'online shop' to collect and exchange info and business support services for youth. Sri Lanka National Youth Employment Action Plan formulated with the support of ILO recently identified the need to support youth entrepreneurship by targeting micro enterprises.