Another challeging long-distance project founded by an Australian School of Business (ASB) Masters if Commerce student aism to " turn the lights on" for the first time in a rural community in Sri Lanka.
A way to drive out poverty
SOMETIMES it happens that people go into business not for profit but to make a positive impact on their communities. Social Responsbility has become the buzz word in the corporate world and the movement gained greater legitimacy last month when Bill Gates and Warren Buffet successfully cajoled a group of super wealthy IS businessmen to hand over portions of their vast fortunes to charity. And it's hit steet level as well, with one example being Shanil Samarakoon, this week named Sydney's Social Entrepreneur of the Year..Read More...
Another challeging long-distance project founded by an Australian School of Business (ASB) Masters if Commerce student aism to " turn the lights on" for the first time in a rural community in Sri Lanka.
Social Change
Trillions of dollars have been spent on foreign aid in recent decades, yet many developing communities continue to live in poverty. Is there a better solution? Shanil Samarkoon, 25, established the not-for-profit Empower after graduating from a Master of Commerce at UNSW. He is Sydney's 2010 Social Entrpreneur of the Year. In remote areas of Malawi, villagers might spend two hours collecting firewood per day and five hours walking for water. Shanil believes basic technologies like solar-powered lanterns or bio-gas stoves will free up comunities from mundane tasks, giving them more spare time to launch their own business ventures.Read More...
Another challeging long-distance project founded by an Australian School of Business (ASB) Masters if Commerce student aism to " turn the lights on" for the first time in a rural community in Sri Lanka.
Australian School of Business Magazine 2009
"Electric Lighting is something we take for granted, because we have it at the flick of a switch, but these people have never had electricity in their lives"
Another challenging long-distance project founded by an Australian School of Business (ASB) Masters if Commerce student aims to "turn the lights on" for the first time in a rural community in Sri Lanka. Twenty four-year-old Shanil Samarakoon and his team at UNSW have set up the Empower project to introduce renewable energy via Biogas in two stages. Read More...
Sunday Herald 21/09/08
More power to the Entrepreneur
Shanil Samarakoon is in the business of empowering a Sri Lankan village. Using waste rice straw, he and a University of NSW team, working with partners Energy Forum, are bringing bio-power to impoverished families in the country where he was born. It is Samarkoon's project for his master's of commerce (marketing) at UNSW's Australian School of Business. Read More...
Southern Courier - 05-08-2008
Empowered by Charity
Students from the University of NSW are empowering a rural village in Sri Lanka. Using their business skills and networks, the students will help 24 families set up a renewable energy source in the rural Sri Lankan village of Kirigalpotha. The project is named Empower and its leader, Shanil Samarakoon, came up with the idea when he was a social worker in Sri Lanka. The experience made him understand how vital electricity was to development and opportunities in remote villages. Read More...
Sri Lanka Society 2008
Lighting Up Kirigalpotta
The village of Kirigalpotta in the Moneragala district of Sri Lanka is not known to many people. A five to six hour drive from Colombo, it isn't exactly a tourist spot, nor is it on the scenic route home. But for a bunch of postgrad students from the University of New South Wales, Kirigalpotta is a place close to their hearts. Shanil Samarkoon, a young graduate with a project team of students from varied backgrounds and diverse qualifications, has started a project to provide electricity to the village of Kirigalpotta. Armed with nothing but driving ambition to make a difference, Shanil is unfazed by the magnitude of the task. Read More...
