Jumpstart is a name synonymous with the Rotaract Club of Achievers Lanka Business School, having been widely recognized for its efforts in providing a platform for jumpstarting the entrepreneurial journeys of young ideators since its inception. Being a signature project of the club, Jumpstart has also been the recipient of multiple awards and accolades year after year, a true testament to the impact it has made within the Sri Lankan startup arena and the Rotaract movement.
The main phase of this year’s installment of Jumpstart was Pitch It! Win It! The primary goal of the project’s first phase was to provide young entrepreneurs with a stage to showcase their business ideas or early-stage startups and compete for attractive prizes, including legal consultation and one-to-one mentoring sessions from Sri Lanka’s leading business coaching, leadership training, and mentoring institutions.
The Pitch It! Win It! phase of Jumpstart 2022 began in October and went through several events, including an introductory session, workshop series, preliminary round, mentoring sessions, etc. During the preliminary round, registered teams presented their business ideas to a panel of judges. After careful evaluation, the judges shortlisted four teams for the finale: Journe, Rayora, The Empress Kingdom, and Pluton Productions.
The finalists participated in three one-to-one mentoring sessions conducted by Mr. Mohammed Mafaz and Mr. Suwimal Rupasinghe, representing our Official Mentor Partners Show and Tell Presentations and the Biz Show LK, to prepare for the finale. Additionally, they went through a case study round where they were given a customized case study that revolved around their business idea. They were required to make a report based on the case study and present it to the judges before the finale. This round put their skills to the test and assessed their ability to face real-life problems that could potentially occur in their businesses.
The Pitch It! Win It! Finale was held on March 11th, 2023, at the Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC) of TRACE Expert City.
Here, the finalists pitched their business ideas to the judges once more after making improvements based on the one-to-one mentoring sessions they received. The panel of judges consisted of Mr. Shohan Kulasuriya, Ms. Nevindee Amarasinghe, and Ms Pulani Ranasinghe. The keynote speaker for the event was Mr. Ahamed Tharick Razick, who spoke about the importance of being passionate about what you do and provided words of encouragement for the finalists, urging them to continue and develop their business idea without limiting them to the competition.
The event concluded with Journe being declared the winner of the Pitch It! Win It! phase of Jumpstart 2022, followed by Rayora as the first runner-up, Pluton Productions as the second runner-up, and The Empress Kingdom as the finalist.
Each of the four teams was awarded a set of prizes that included legal consultation hours by E-Law Chambers, one-to-one mentoring sessions by Curveup, Ramindu Randeni Leadership Academy, Good Life X, and Soulbound Tokens by Niftron. On the 24th of January, the finalists had their initial individual session with Good Life X at Trace Expert City. The following day, on the 25th of January, they had their second session with Mr Ramindu Randeni at the Ramindu Randeni Leadership Academy. During these sessions, they gained valuable insights on various topics such as evaluating product suitability, recognizing target markets and customers, as well as delving deeply into their personal and business concepts.
The Rotaract Club of Achievers Lanka Business School would like to thank its Bronze Sponsor, Sri Lanka Technological Campus, and its partners TRACE – Sri Lanka, IEEE Innovation Nation Sri Lanka, Good Life X, Curveup, Niftron, E-Law Chambers, Show and Tell Presentations, The Biz Show, Ceylon Today, ChoKoLAATe, Foto Design, and Loshi’s Bakes for making the event possible. A special thank you goes out to Mr. Hasanka Padukka and Mr Manodya Nabadawewa for their immense support in making this event a success.
The club would like to extend its gratitude to the keynote speaker and the judges for their time, knowledge, and insight in selecting and encouraging the finalists. Finally, congratulations to the finalists for making it this far, and best of luck in all their future endeavors.
Jumpstart 2022 will be back with some exciting initiatives designed especially for young ideators and entrepreneurs. Stay tuned to our social media pages for more updates!
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jumpstart_achievers/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Jumpstart.Achievers
Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/company/jumpstart-by-rotaract-club-of-achievers-lanka-business-school
Written by: Rtr. Hiruni Hettiarachchi
& Rtr. Gavin Dias Abeygunewardene
Edited by: Rtr. Imesha Ilangasinghe
Editor