HIMALI DE SILVA AND ALISON WIJEMANNE CO-FOUNDERS OF APÉ AND COLLAB

On this week’s edition of ‘The Founder’ we feature Himali De Silva and Alison Wijemanne, the Co-Founders of Apé and Collab. Himali is armed with a MSc. in Finance and Financial Law from S.O.A.S (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) and a BA in Business and Commerce from Monash University, Australia. Alison holds a BA in Business and Commerce from Monash University, Malaysia. Himali is an academic with a plethora of work experience across the globe and she combines her reservoir of diverse experiences, knowledge and academic qualifications to create powerful, relevant and engaging content, enabling brands to share their stories in conscious and authentic ways. Alison is a shining star; a digital native, with an eagle eye for detail and a proven track record of growing multiple social media presences, across different platforms.

In your own words, what is Apé and what is Collab? Apé is an initiative to raise awareness and to provide a resale platform  to enable circular consumption. As traditionally, we consume in a linear manner, where we take-make-consume and throw, but as of now, the world is moving towards circular consumption, which involves reusing, sharing, leasing, etc. Therefore, the products are handled in a more conscious and responsible manner. With the aim of keeping items in circulation and minimizing waste as much as possible.  Apé, when translated to English, means ‘ours’, and hence our tagline is  “Apé - Bringing Obé and Magé Together,” which translates to “Bringing Yours and Mine together.” As the concept is based on building a community that resells and rebuys from each other, the name Apé was fitting. With the growth and great trajectory of Apé, a lot of friends and even strangers, who run businesses and startups, have started to approach us, regarding assisting them with their branding and their social media presence. As we have a great collaborative work dynamic, complementary experiences and skill sets, and most importantly a true appreciation for each other's inputs, we thought to ourselves, why not use our experience and insight to help other businesses and startups? And thus COLLAB was created. COLLAB offers a wide array of branding and social media strategy and content creation services across several platforms. 

What was the journey like, starting from scratch and building the business up to where it is right now? Exhausting! As, all tasks fall solely upon the three of us. Our Creative Director, Shivane Wickramasekera is the creative magician, who has the ability to transform the simplest content into unparalleled pots of creative gold. His creativity brings brands to life and allows them to soar. Between the three of us we handle all the work at COLLAB.

What were the hardships you both faced as owners, and what was the toughest one yet? The journey of shifting mindsets for both startups, firstly the mindset, to remove the stigmas or misconceptions around preloved items and secondly, the desire to truly bring brands to life and the need for strategically driven and engaging social media content. 

Explain a few marketing strategies you have implemented, and what makes them successful? We are conscious of the fact that we live in a time where we are all constantly inundated, with information and the majority of consumers are now from Gen Z, who are digital natives. Thus, the Apé and Collab content is strategically and consciously planned, created and presented in different formats with value add versus being the generic content you can find elsewhere. For the awareness posts, hours are spent researching related information, then broken down into bite sized nuggets of information. We strategize our content around Philip Kotler’s (who is considered the father of modern marketing) belief that currently, decisions are mostly influenced by the ‘F-Factor’: Family, friends, fans and followers. Compared to previous years where the main source was ‘influencer’ or key opinion leader (KOL) marketing. Which in our opinion is on the decline and there is a growing desire for more genuine, F-factor or micro-influencer-based endorsements. Thus, Apé has run many humanized campaigns, featuring real people sharing their thoughts and support of the brand and circular consumption. All these are centered around collaborations with other people, to help spread awareness of the brand and circular consumption in easily relatable ways. 

What motivates you to do what you do on daily basis? Each other!

How did you get the initial start-up capital? Self-financed, both startups are heavy on time, thinking and energy investments versus financial capital. 

What separates Ape and Collab from its competitors? The fact that we have our diverse, yet extremely complementary combined expertise driving both startups. Himali has over fifteen years of experience in the management consulting and business landscapes, Shivane has fifteen years in the advertising industry and Alison has experience in Tea and charity work. Alison has also gained valuable experience in organically growing her own social media presences across multiple platforms over the last five years. Apé gave us the gift of true experience, being thrown into the deep end and having to swim during a pandemic, in the startup world. Thus, combined we offer expertise and insights, with a lot of breath and depth, which we hope, other business owners leverage via COLLAB to help grow their businesses. 

What is your definition for the word success? Making each other and our families proud, and truly helping those around us and also helping in our own way to take Sri Lanka forward via both startups. 

Who are your role models? Our parents have been our biggest role models and positive influencers.

Were your families supportive of the new venture? Yes, both our families and close friends have been our personal sounding boards and cheerleading squads. 

What is the end goal for Ape and Collab? To normalize the preloved concept in Sri Lanka and to help other businesses truly take their brands and social media presence to the optimal possible level. 

What advice would you give other start-ups? Having Co-Founders is a blessing, we wouldn't be able to do anything to the efficiency, ability or the quality that we do without each other. 

What do you think of the current start-up ecosystem in Sri Lanka? It's fantastic and extremely collaborative as well, as the founders tend to know and support each other.

Where can we find Apé and COLLAB? Both operate solely via Instagram and can be found at the following Instagram handles: Apé @apelk1010, COLLAB @collab.lk