Lankan Angel Network and Ideamart present #IAMHER Startup Spotlight
View(s):Only 4 per cent of Sri Lankan start-ups have female founders, according to the “Start Up Sri Lanka 2015” report. To aid in bridging this gap, Lankan Angel Network and Ideamart recently presented the #IAMHER Startup Spotlight.
Kicking off with a panel made up of well-respected industry leaders like Linda Speldewinde, Founder of AOD Colombo and Fashionmarket.lk; Indira Malwatte, Chairperson of Sri Lanka’s Export Development Board; Chitranganie Mubarak, former Chairperson of Sri Lanka’s ICT Agency; Anoji De Silva, Partner at Ernst & Young and Lakmini Wijesundara, Co Founder and CEO of Iron One Technologies, the introductory session of this half-day program focused on the common challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. The audience, comprising female founders of startups, as well as other women entrepreneurs, also received valuable advice on how they could overcome issues and thrive in the local marketplace, according to a media release from the organisers.
Geared towards building and supporting a gender balanced startup ecosystem, #IAMHER is an initiative by the Lankan Angel Network, Sri Lanka’s largest network of angel investors, and Ideamart, a web-based platform where anyone can utilize telco APIs to create their own services and make it a revenue generating tool. It is the aim of the #IAMHER initiative to foster and give due recognition to women led ventures, while at the same time increasing the participation of female angel investors in the startup ecosystem.
Endorsing the #IAMHER initiative, Ms. Speldewinde noted that stories of strong and impactful women entrepreneurs were positive messages that were particularly important today. Women must take the initiative and inspire each other, striving to become change makers instead of being portrayed as victims.
Ms. Speldewinde is also a patron of the Lankan Angel Network, which also features other highly-respected women leaders as members, including Padmaja Ruparel, President of Indian Angel Network; Anarkali Moonesinghe, CEO Sri Lanka of CIMB Investment Bank, Shehara Jayawardana, Group Joint Managing Director of McLarens Group and Tamara Dunne, Project Director at Unity Group (Singapore).
Speaking at the event, Ms. Malwatte brought in both public- and private-sector viewpoints, urging the assembled audience of young women entrepreneurs to be professional, pursue their dreams, and never let being women become a barrier.
Adding to this, Ms. Mubarak commented that getting more women involved in the workplace made sense from an economic perspective, going on to indicate that studies show that when more women are included in decision making roles there was a 15 percent value addition.