How a Sri Lankan rural startup won an award in UK

And when you thought that there's no positive thing in news on Sri Lanka, this pops up.

Amazing story. Entrepreneurship is well and alive in this country. And they are not in the limelight, like the superstars on TV, yet.
And no, you don't have to be "techy" to run a start-up. Or have ivy league credentials.
Imagine a day people talk of start-ups, just like they talk of super stars.

Nimali Gunawardana from Ambalantota in the Hambantota District was crowned last night as the UK’s Youth Business International (YBI) Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 at an awards ceremony in London.

The award is endorsed by UK’s Prince of Wales and prior to receiving her award, she and other award winners had an audience with the Prince Charles.

Nimali runs a small-scale business named Nimali Chips and Fibre Mill, which produces and exports environmentally-friendly coir for mattresses and coir piths and more uniquely making coconut husk chips, which is a new industry.

Nimali, who comes from an impoverished background, was determined to overcome traditional ideas about women in Sri Lanka. However, a failed coir business venture and a lack of collateral meant that banks rejected her loan requests.

With the help of UK’s YBI member Youth Business Sri Lanka (YBSL), Nimali’s new business employs 13 people and is looking to generate a turnover of more than $ 39,200. And she is just 25 years old.

Nimali is one of seven children from an underprivileged family and she worked to pay for her higher education. Thereafter, to make ends meet, she became a machine operator in a garment factory.

Read FT full post here 

Pic courtesy: FT