Shanthi Sena Youth Entrepreneurship Development Program

Shanthi Sena Youth Entrepreneurship Development Program

Shanthi Sena is not only known for its work on social cohesion and coexistence, but also providing opportunities to youth on entrepreneurship and small business development. In a recently conducted youth entrepreneurship program, Shanthi Sena disbursed financial support to hundred selected young entrepreneurs who were badly affected by the lockdowns placed in the island. The intention of this initiative was to give their businesses a boost to either continue or revamp small scale business ventures. The grantees were selected from ten administrative districts, namely: Trincomalee, Puttalam, Kalutara, Gampaha, Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matale, Anuradhapura and Hambantota. During the selection process, the selection committee visited businesses to ensure that they selected the most deserving ones. From each district, at least fifty applicants were selected for the programme. Special consideration was given to disable candidates. Moreover, the committee gave special attention to balance off ethnic, gender and religious diversity. After the primary selection, candidates had the opportunity to attend workshops on proposal formulation. Twenty workshops were conducted in respective project locations to provide them the basic skills. The first series of workshops (business idea development training) for young entrepreneurs were successfully held in all ten districts with the participation of 156 young entrepreneurs. Seasoned trainers from Sarvodaya Development Finance (SDF) conducted these sessions imparting theoretical and practical knowledge to develop their small-scale businesses with business plans.

The second workshop series (proposal selection) was the final round of the selection process. The second series was successfully held in all ten districts with the participation of 119 young entrepreneurs. The selection committee of each district consisted of four members from the district committee, a representative from Sarvodaya Development Finance a businessperson with sufficient expertise in entrepreneurship and a Sarvodaya District Coordinator. The selection committee of each district worked hard to analyse and evaluate each business plan with special care and attention to every detail. The following is the detailed description of the second workshop series for young entrepreneurs.

Motivational Session

In each district, a special motivation session had been organised to provide participants with inspiration. Established entrepreneurs from each district had the opportunity to share their experience. Participants had the opportunity not only to listen to a lecture but also to interact and discuss with them to clear their doubts in finding solutions to the challenges they face. Following this session participants were invited to present their proposals. Each participant was given ten minutes to present their business plans followed by a Q&A session.

Submitting Final Recommendations:

A careful and thorough needs assessment was conducted by the selection panel before selecting the final candidates who were eligible for the grant. By December 2020, all qualified candidates received their grants to begin their business development ambitions. Shanthi Sena has not only executed this task but also has considered the sustainability of the project. In so doing, they have setup District Youth Entrepreneurs' Circles as a follow-up activity where all qualified grantees became members to peer strengthen each other with the motivation to establish leadership for similar initiatives in the future.