The traditional image of an Engineering student in the society remains merely as a technocrat and the scope of an Engineer was limited only to a dedicated technical life but not the leadership and management aspects of a career. “Young Entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka”, program brought this dispute into light by urging the fact that Engineers should involve in entrepreneurship by discovering their hidden talents of leadership and management.
This great mission was initiated at University ofMoratuwawith the financial support by theNDBBank, Sri Lanka. In 2011, a set of level-one undergraduates formed their own student companies under the supervision and registration ofYESLas Junior Achievement companies, marking a new era of university education.
“EXiMiUS”student company marked its name as the first ever university student company to be launched and “LEAF”,“VAUT”, and”YDEAS”were some of the other companies established under the program.
The pioneering student companies of this great concept were officially launched at EYE - Empowering Young Entrepreneurs, 2011 which was held in last September at the Foundation Institute, Sri Lanka. At EYE 2011, each company introduced themselves to an audience which composed of leading personalities in corporate sector of Sri Lanka. Given the exposure to the real word business, the budding Engineers were set off to open up new avenues of success.
Despite thatmouldingtechno-focused young students into entrepreneurs was no way an easy task,DeshamanyaMr. PatrickAmarasinghe, the Chairman of Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka, being the backbone of this tedious venture, together with his team was able to give the undergraduates a detailed and comprehensive knowledge about business on financial, marketing, human resources, production and many new aspects such as research and development.
Senior ProfessorAnandaJayawardane, who was then theNDBendowed Professor for Entrepreneurship and currently the Vice Chancellor of University ofMoratuwawas a great pillar of strength in initiating this revolutionary act.
With the vision of converting talented youth to “job creators” rather than letting them be just “job seekers”, theYESLprogrammehas added more value to the future Engineer by creating paths before them on which they will walk towards the ultimate goal of contributing immensely to the development of the nation.