PanXellerator, by the Rotaract Club of PanColombo

Are you someone with a dream of running your own small business someday? Does your passion lie in the food & beverage or fashion industries? But are you stuck and don’t know how to move forward? If the answer to all the above questions were YES! then, PanXellerator is the program for you.

PanXellerator, by the Rotaract Club of PanColombo is a program that aims to focus on talented young entrepreneurs helping them move forward in their respective industry whether it be just a simple business idea or a new business. It consists of a 360 degree training program on how to build a successful business from the very beginning with training on different avenues of running a small business including topics such as;
How to conduct research and development
How to build your brand
How to carry out impactful marketing and many more.
These sessions will be conducted by leading Sri Lankan entrepreneurs who will help guide you to build your business.

Phase 1 of this program, The Live Series, concluded on the 22nd of August. This series featured six well known, successful small business owners who spoke to us about their experiences and what they’ve learnt through their business journey.
Sue Abeyratne from Bad Tan Gals (@badtangals), Umanga Kulasekara of UDAK (@u.d.a.k), Radeesha de Silva of Cake Crumbs (@cakecrrumbs), Shalina Fernando of Elizabeth Clothing (@elizabeth.clothingofficial) and Aksaya Sivakumar of Tedora (@tedora.lk) were featured on this series.

Each of these young entrepreneurs gave us an insight on what it’s like to run a small business. The live series sessions were full of enthusiastic young individuals who had many questions regarding the hardships and the unparalleled journey the entrepreneurs had to endure. The real-life stories were a key hit in the sessions.

So what’s next ….
Glad you asked, Panxellerator phase 2 is on the horizon

Phase 2, The training program, is set to begin in November. It will be a 5-week program where leading Sri Lankan experts such as;
Fathhi Mohamed (Co-Founder of DishServer, Co-Founder of PickMe, and Co-Founder of Yoho Beds), Concept building & creative thinking ,
Fouzul Hameed(Managing Director of Hameedia Group and Envoy London), Brand Building
Rukmal de Silva (Owner of 361 Degrees), Building proof of concept through experimentations and validations
Dinali Dandeniya (Co-Owner of Cafe Kumbuk), Product development
Mithila Saranapala (Head of HR Commercial Leasing), Basics of human resources
Dinushka Medagoda (E-Law Chambers), Basic legal requirements & intellectual property
Sanath Vidanagamage (Founder and CEO of Institute of Growth Concept), Importance of an investment
Kolitha Ratnayake ( Illimité Training & Consulting Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing, Brand Consultant), Presentation skills
Yasas Hewage ( Director & Co-Founder of Dafedil Academy Business, Marketing & Digital), Sales & Marketing
Michelle De Silva (Head of the Club HNB), Banking & Finance
will be training our participants on what it takes to run a successful small business. The program will be conducted via Zoom due to the prevailing situation in our country. At the end of the training program 10 participants will be selected to present and pitch their business idea to potential investors and also stand a chance to win cash prizes of up to LKR 30,000 and non-monetary Sponsorships with our partners up to Rs.150,000. We have furthermore, Hatch has joined hands with the PanXellorator team as an ecosystem partner, and Chokolaate as a youth media partner, Additionally a 10,000 idea partnership has also been reached with ICTA etc.

So, what to expect in phase 2?
Apart from the live sessions the platform will provide a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to discover new talents for their teams. In numerous times in the past, we have seen food or apparel industry people joining hands together with tech and non-tech people towards new ventures.

This program is sure to help young entrepreneurs with taking the first steps to launch your dream business. If you are interested in joining this program, get in touch with them via their Instagram account, @panxellerator_racpc.