The Sri Lankan among the finalists at the GSEA Global Finals

It’s been almost three months since we in Sri Lanka saw the conclusion of the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards (GSEA) Sri Lanka National Finals. It was here that Buddhika Jayawardhana from the University of Moratuwa was selected to represent Sri Lanka at the GSEA Global Finals. Today, we are happy to say that Buddhika is one of the top five GSEA global finalists.

In case you’re lost, the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards is one of the largest programs that recognizes and supports student entrepreneurs. Officially organized by Entrepreneurs Organization, this is a competition that’s held in almost all corners of the globe. In January, with the support of Spiralation, Startup Sri Lanka, AIESEC, Global Tutor, and Tellida, the Global Student Entrepreneurship program came to Sri Lanka.

The GSEA Sri Lanka national finals were held in March at BMICH.  It was at these finals that we saw Buddhika’s idea in detail: Siplo.lk. This is an online tutoring website that provides a virtual classroom where pre-university students can conduct tuition classes for students about to sit for their exams. What sets Siplo stand apart in terms of special features are parental monitoring capability, low data consumption, one-to-one live tutoring sessions, a rating system, and the ability to pay through your mobile phone.

Buddihka built Siplo after seeing how school students have to either go for expensive individual classes, mass classes, or other forms of classes to pass their examinations. Many of the students who go through these classes and pass their A/L exams spend months waiting to be accepted into a state university. As they wait to be accepted into university, they have much free time and are still knowledgeable in a subject area. Knowledge which those who are about to face their A/L exams can benefit from. To bridge this gap between students facing A/L exams and pre-university students, Buddhika built Siplo.

Having won the GSEA Sri Lanka National Finals, Buddhika was selected to represent Sri Lanka at the Global Finals happening now in Bangkok. We would like to congratulate Buddhika for being selected as one of the top five global finalists. This is an incredible achievement as he has beaten many other great entrepreneurs across the world. We wish him the best of luck and hope to see him return as the winner of GSEA 2016.