SLT-Mobitel Entrepreneurship Studio gains momentum with 20 start-ups short-listed

SLT-Mobitel, the national ICT solutions provider focused on purpose-driven innovation, has announced the short listing of 20 start-ups for its pioneering Entrepreneurship Studio 2021-2022 cohort and the commencement of an intensive mentoring and coaching programme targeting the participants.

The Entrepreneurship Studio programme was launched with the aim of strengthening the country’s digital ecosystem by nurturing and supporting tech start-ups involved in driving innovative and disruptive technologies. The competition is designed to challenge the most promising early-stage start-ups to develop, test and market groundbreaking new products and solutions revolutionising the tech industry. At the culmination of Entrepreneurship Studio, selected winners will receive up to Rs.1 million in funding to scale up their businesses.
The Entrepreneurship Studio programme is spearheaded by The Embryo, the SLT group’s new pioneering research and development initiative, which seeks to drive a multi-channel innovation pipeline to build cutting-edge digital solutions.

The selected entrepreneurs will undergo 14 weeks of mentoring comprising of a series of preparatory activities, including training sessions, mentorship, coaching, workshops and boot-camps from carefully selected experts, who will provide support and valuable advice to the entrepreneurs. These sessions include strategies on vision setting, customer and product development and go to market, legal and IP, infrastructure and technology and revenue development.

The programme, which was launched in May, has now progressed in short listing 20 start-ups. Supporting these start-ups in their long-term success, the Entrepreneurship Studio programme is a comprehensive mentoring programme for the short-listed candidates.

The programme offers participants mentoring through experience sharing, technical know-how and coaching by a high-powered panel of SLT-Mobitel experts. Inaugurating the mentoring and coaching sessions was held recently through an orientation event held with the participation of SLT Group Chairman Rohan Fernando, SLT Group CEO Lalith Seneviratne, SLT CEO Kiththi Perera, SLT COO Priyantha Fernandez, Mobitel CEO Chandika Vitharana  and several other senior management of SLT-Mobitel.

The finalists of the SLT-Mobitel Entrepreneurship Studio 2021-2022 cohort are set to participate in a Demo Day upon completion of the mentoring and coaching sessions.  The aim of this event will be to provide the entrepreneurs a solid springboard to showcase their perfected business models to a curated panel of tech industry leaders, mentors, future investors and potential acquirers. After Demo Day, where the finalists will pitch their plans, the selected winners will receive up to Rs.1 million in funding to scale up their businesses.