For someone who is passionate about TED having a local TED event in his or her area is facinating. I’m not sure whether this is the first TED event held in Sri Lanka, however for the time I was following TED this is the first. I couldn’t attend the event by my self. Nevertheless I found most of the talks published on Youtube and TED very interesting. Following are some of them.
What’s in Your Pocket? Chamindra Goonewardene
About the speaker:
Having graduated from Duke University in North Carolina with a degree in Economics, Chamindra dived into the world of advertising at McKinney, a top agency in the US, and upon his return to Sri Lanka, he started work at the Grant Group of Companies, one of Sri Lanka’s first advertising agencies.Having graduated from Duke University in North Carolina with a degree in Economics, Chamindra dived into the world of advertising at McKinney, a top agency in the US, and upon his return to Sri Lanka, he started work at the Grant Group of Companies, one of Sri Lanka’s first advertising agencies.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5U4Ry8WN08
Interesting points:
- Mobile subscribers in Sri Lanka is around 19.6 million while the population is around 21 million.
- The response time for a short message is around 3 seconds.
- Nowaways news alerts tend to reach people first via short messages.
- How Sunsilk introduced their shampoos, in big bottles, then in small bottles and then in saches. Now sachets could be used one at a time.
- Instead of printing receipts on paper what if merchants could SMS them. So that people could track their expenses and spend their money better.
- Technological advancement such as e-channelling, movie tickets, easy cash etc.
- The smart phone penetration in the country on they year 2012 is around 20%.
- Sri Lanka is one of the countries to access the internet from a mobile device first.
Frog’s Eggs: Rohan Pallewatta
About the speaker:
Rohan Pallewatta is presently the Managing Director cum CEO of Lanka Harness Co., (Pvt) Ltd. The core business of this company is the manufacturing of Impact sensors for automobile airbags and seatbelts. Customers include Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi and Mazda of Japan, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler of USA and Volvo, Saab, BMW, Aston Martin, Opel and Renault of Europe. Mr. Pallewatta rakes into the country foreign revenue worth over US $ 25 million annually.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD1VY20HSHc
Interesting points:
- Most of the barriers we find in life are psychological.
- There is a likelyhood that innovative ideas may come to people who are emotionally sensitive.
- Innovative ideas are likes Frogs Eggs, out of millions hatched only one or two would reach its maturity - Peter Drucker.
- When you try to do something different, people will disagree with you, they will laugh at you, then they will redicule you, if possible they will try to fight with you and then You Win. That is the path - Mahathma Gandi.
The Business of Doing Good - Taha Bawa
About the speaker:
Taha Bawa, 22, is the co-founder and CEO of Geneva-based Endignorance SA, a social enterprise that has developed a new multi-faceted web platform for the social sector. The platform, endignorance.org, addresses the world’s greatest challenges ranging from climate change to poverty by providing easy access to information and a one-click gateway to opportunities to get involved and make a difference. The enterprise has created over 50 jobs for the Sri Lankan youth. Taha studied Economics at HEC Lausanne in Switzerland, and has also lived in Pakistan, Iran and USA. Before Endignorance, Taha interned at Standard Chartered bank and Christie’s auction house in Geneva.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdv86XCMa9A
Interesting points:
- Divide professional life into three phases: Learning, Earning and Giving back.
- Dedication, passion and talent produces great products.
- Illustrates the scene of Batman getting out of the pit in the Batman movie.
Why Entrepreneurship is Low in Sri Lanka? - Rohan Jayaweera
About the speaker:
Rohan Jayaweera, is the first & the only employee appointed by Google for Sri Lanka. He joined Google approximately 8 months ago and before that was based out of Singapore as a business consultant. Prior to moving to Singapore Rohan worked for Cisco, Lenovo & IBM.
Rohan has Bachelor of Science in electronic & telecommunication from University of Moratuwa, Professional postgraduate diploma in marketing from CIM U.K. & in the process of completing his MBA in International Business & Masters in Business & Technology. Passionate about entrepreneurship & does regular lectures at University of Moratuwa on the topic. Rohan also did set up his own business 4 years ago & still keeping it alive. Rohan has won numerous awards for his leadership & execution however takes special pride in being the head prefect of Royal College, Colombo.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETHXLMfTeL0
Intellectual Property - Protecting your Ideas: Anupama Dias Abeygunawa
About the speaker:
She is currently reading for her Attorneys-at-Law examinations at Sri Lanka Law College, and will be swearing-in during December 2012. She possesses a LLM in Intellectual Property and Technology Law from National University of Singapore, and a Diploma in International Relations from Bandaranaike Centre for International Relations. In addition to these she also possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and Political Science from the University of Montesquieu in Bordeaux. Acted in the capacity of Junior Legal Officer(Intellectual Property Resource Person) at MAS Holdings Pvt. Ltd. and as Legal Officer(Banking and Finance) with Julius and Creasy Attorneys-at-Law.
Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA9S8rzbfKQ