GEN in Sri Lanka

GEN launched its operations in Sri Lanka in 2009, when it partnered with Young Entrepreneurs Sri Lanka to bring the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) campaign to the country. These campaigns established a structural partnership for GEN’s work with the island’s entrepreneurial community, which has propelled the ecosystem. As the campaign grew, GEN built a coalition of partners that generated awareness of the importance of entrepreneurship for national economic development. In 2022, GEN added the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) as a GEW partner, which took a leading role in coordinating GEW events across the country. Its collaboration with ICTA embedded the GEW campaign within Sri Lanka's national digital-economy targets and drew government agencies, investors, private incubators, and universities into a single coordinated effort. GEN supports Sri Lankan founders through programs including Startup Huddle, organized in Colombo by Unicorn Factory in partnership with BMAD, NEST Sri Lanka, and SquareHub. GEN's goal is what it has been since 2009—connecting Sri Lankan founders with the knowledge, networks, capital, and policy support they need to start and scale.

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Suresh Dayanath de Mel
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GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT

Entrepreneurs Thrive Here: Global Entrepreneurship Week 2026

Millions of people around the world have the ideas, talent, and ambition to build something better for themselves and their communities — but have never seen entrepreneurship as a path available to them. Global Entrepreneurship Week, taking place November 16-22, 2026, changes that. This campaign meets people where they are and connects them to the networks, tools, and support to take that first step — showing what’s possible in their own communities.
 

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