Sri Lanka Agripreneurs’ Forum successfully concludes first-ever Agripreneur Conference

The Sri Lanka Agripreneurs’ Forum (SLAF) recently held Agripreneur Conference 2023, themed ‘Empowering

Agripreneurs for a World of Abundance’, at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute in Colombo. 
This conference aimed to bring all stakeholders of agribusiness into one common platform to foster innovation and drive progressive change.

The conference, which was held in collaboration with Hatton National Bank and the MBA Alumni Association of the University of Colombo, under the official endorsement of the Agriculture Ministry, saw over 150 key stakeholders in the agribusiness domain come together to address the present-day challenges and seize new opportunities in the sector.

SLAF Chairman Rizvi Zaheed welcomed the participants and highlighted the timely need to conduct such a conference targeting agripreneurs to uplift their skillsets and provide them with insights that could spark progressive action.

The keynote address for the event was delivered by Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, who stressed the need to develop a comprehensive agri policy that does not change with the minister and appreciated the efforts by the SLAF to uplift the agribusiness sector through the various initiatives done in sync with the government.
The conference was divided into four sessions – Agri-Financing, Agri-Marketing, Agri-Tech and Agri-Policy Facilitation – each featuring keynote speeches and panel discussions.

For the Agri-Financing session, former Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Rajendra Theagarajah delivered a keynote speech on ‘The Secrets to Securing Loans, Grants and Investments’. This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Opportunities Available in Agri-Financing and How to Access Them’, with panellists including Theagarajah, Spice Council of Sri Lanka Founder Chairman Sarada de Silva and Hatton National Bank Head of SME Products and Partnerships Dr. Niluka Amarasinghe.

The session was moderated by SLAF Chief Executive Officer Ruwin Mapa. The first session was followed by the Morning Tea, where participants received an opportunity to interact with each other to improve their networks.
The Agri-Tech session featured a keynote address by SpectrifyAI Co-Founder Jeevan Gnanam on ‘How to Succeed as an Agripreneur in the Digital Age’. This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Utilising Agri-Tech to Make Your Agribusiness More Efficient’, with panellists including Gnanam, Thuru Co-Founder Heminda Jayaweera and Agrithmics Chief Executive Officer Prashanth Premkumar. The session was moderated by SLAF Hony. Secretary Dr. Selvanathan Anojan.

This was followed by lunch, which itself was followed by the Agri-Marketing session. During the Agri-Marketing session, Mobitel General Manager Marketing Charaka Perera delivered a keynote speech on ‘The Ingredients to a Good Marketing Strategy’.
This was followed by a panel discussion on ‘Reaching New Markets and Expanding Your Customer Base’, with panellists including Perera, Nidro Supply Managing Director Dawn Austin and Ceylon Biscuits Limited Chief Executive Officer Nalin Karunaratne. The session was moderated by SLAF Chairman Rizvi Zaheed.