Dhevin De Silva & Dhananath Fernando | Growing a Business: The Story of Torch Labs | Advocata Studio

From High School to Entrepreneurship: The Story of Torch Labs

Dhevin De Silva (Founder and CEO of Torch Labs) shares his personal journey of becoming an entrepreneur with Dhananath Fernando (CEO, Advocata Institute). Dhevin discusses how he discovered a lucrative opportunity in the sneaker reselling market and built a successful business around it. He also highlights the importance of a market-based system in providing equal opportunities for entrepreneurs and creating job opportunities for society. Dhevin shares his experiences, challenges, and successes in growing his business and provides valuable tips for aspiring entrepreneurs. His story inspires and encourages people to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

Check out our previous episode with Hithesh Fernando ( Founder | Fintech Digital Pvt Ltd )

News Release E-Registry proposal by the DCS satisfies a much-needed reform for MSEs

NEWS RELEASE

Originally appeared in the Economy Next, Daily FT, Daily Mirror and Ada Derana

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka— The Advocata Institute commends the decision taken by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) to launch an e-registry portal to register unregistered and registered businesses in Sri Lanka.  Advocata Institute looks forward to the fruition of this proposal and calls upon Cabinet to support this reform. This will allow thousands of Sri Lankan entrepreneurs, unregistered micro, small and medium businesses to formalize their ventures and gain access to formal sources of finance. 

Research carried out by the Advocata Institute identifies a significant array of regulatory barriers that discourage or hinder micro and small enterprises. An all-island survey carried out during the course of our research identifies access to finance as a critical problem. Further analysis identifies the complexity of the business registration process and related regulation as a barrier to registration.  According to the DCS, 45% of micro-enterprises and 10% of small enterprises remain unregistered in Sri Lanka, even though sole proprietorships account for 63.1% of all businesses in the country, and account for 27.1% of national employment. Reforming the registration process through the proposed e-registry achieves the commendable objective of reducing barriers faced by micro and small enterprises. 

Advocata Institute’s report titled “Barriers to Micro and Small Enterprises in Sri Lanka” which can be accessed on https://www.advocata.org/ provides a comprehensive analysis of the problems faced by these businesses.  A key reform recommendation of the report is the establishment of an E-Registry. While commending the DCS for putting forward this timely reform, we further invite all policymakers to rally behind the task of reducing the documentation and approvals required to register a sole proprietorship or a partnership in Sri Lanka and bring the process in line with that of registering a private company. 

Implementing policies that incentivize the registration of businesses would be a step towards achieving the government’s vision of empowering entrepreneurs and creating a vibrant national ecosystem for businesses.  

Advocata is an independent policy think tank based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We conduct research, provide commentary and hold events to promote sound policy ideas compatible with a free society in Sri Lanka. Visit advocata.org for more information.

Advocata spokesmen are available for live and pre-recorded broadcast interviews via 077 621 6788

CONTACT:

Yasodara Kariyawasam,

Communications Manager, Advocata Institute

Email: yasodhara@advocata.org

Impact of COVID-19 on small and micro enterprises, unregistered businesses

Aneetha Warusavitarana, Research Manager of the Advocata Institute, was featured in the News1st English Prime Time Bulletin that was aired on the 04th of May at 9.00 PM. Discussing the impact of Covid-19 on small and micro enterprises, Aneetha weighed in on certain stakeholders such as unregistered businesses that remain invisible to policymakers and government officials.

“Even though Sri Lanka is seeing a relaxation of curfew measures, it will be a while before the economy opens fully and returns to a pre-Covid level of activity. Business registration is vitally important within this context as it is a prerequisite to opening a bank account, being eligible for formal assistance and even applying for something like a curfew pass.” 

Click here to watch

Media coverage for the launch of the Red Tape Project

Advocata Institute hosted their latest event, “පොඩි බිස්නස් පොඩි කරන කරන රතු පටි රෙගුලාසි” on the 5th of March 2020. This event served as the official launch of the Red Tape Project, the culmination of their ongoing work on removing legal and regulatory barriers faced by small and micro entrepreneurs.

Daily FT: More difficult to register small business than limited company: Advocata

"Advocata Institute hosted their latest event, ‘Red Tape Regulations that Stifle Small Business’ in Colombo last week. The objective of the Red Tape Project is to identify, study, and advocate for the removal of legal and regulatory barriers faced by businesses in Sri Lanka. As a first step towards the process, it launched a report on ‘Barriers to Micro and Small Enterprises in Sri Lanka’, and a website for entrepreneurs to submit views on red tape and government processes that need to be removed or simplified." 

Read the full article

Ceylon Today: Advocata hosts event for small and micro entrepreneurs

“The report, ‘Barriers to Micro and Small Enterprises in Sri Lanka’ provides an understanding of the landscape of micro and small enterprises in the country, drawing from an islandwide survey. The survey highlights the various regulatory barriers that these enterprises face, ranging from issues of finance, registration, space and labour.”

Read the full article

The Morning: Advocata launches Red Tape Project for small businesses  

"The objective of the Red Tape Project is to identify, study, and advocate for the removal of legal and regulatory barriers faced by businesses in Sri Lanka. As a first step towards the process, Advocata launched a report on “Barriers to Micro and Small Enterprises in Sri Lanka”, as well as www.redtape.lk, a website for entrepreneurs to submit their frustrations or views on red tape and government processes and regulations that need to be removed or simplified. The work on this project was then followed up by the #MystoryLK online competition, where Advocata asked micro and small entrepreneurs islandwide to send in essays, in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, detailing the barriers they had faced in setting up their businesses and how they believed the system could change to reduce the issues they faced.."

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Economy Next: Red tape hinders registration of small businesses in Sri Lanka: think tank

"Red tape is hindering the registration of small businesses at Divisional Secretariats in Sri Lanka, discriminating against the poor and holding back entrepreneurship, Advocata Institute, a Colombo-based think tank said."

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Sunday Times: Micro enterprises face many issues in running a business

"Dhananath Fernando, CEO, AI at the outset explained the harrowing experiences the micro entrepreneurs encounter and also explained the purpose of the ‘red-tape’ across the participants’ seats. To prepare the report, AI carried out a survey to find out these barriers and the report was based on the survey. The researchers have found out that micro-small entrepreneurs largely operate from their homes and lack of access to finance limits this sector reaching the next level."

Read the full article

Lanka Business Online: It’s more difficult to register a small business than a limited company: Report

"The objective of the Red Tape Project is to identify, study, and advocate for the removal of legal and regulatory barriers faced by businesses in Sri Lanka. Advocata also launched www.redtape.lk, a website for entrepreneurs to submit their frustrations or views on red tape and government processes and regulations that need to be removed or simplified. Rajapatirana says the comparison of Sri Lanka’s practices with those of Hong Kong and New Zealand, two countries that have higher rankings for economic freedom in the world and also have best practices for registration of enterprises is used to guide the reform recommendations."

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Ada Derana: සී/ස පුද්ගලික සමාගමක් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීමට වඩා ඒක පුද්ගල කුඩා ව්‍යාපාරයක් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීම අපහසුයි 

Advocata Institute නවතම වාර්තාව “පොඩි බිස්නස් පොඩි කරන රතු පටි රෙගුලාසි” 2020 මාර්තු 5දා පවත්වනු ලැබී ය . කුඩා සහ ක්ෂුද්‍ර ව්‍යාපාර මුහුණදෙන නීතිමය හා නියාමන බාධක ඉවත් කරගැනීම සදහා ඔවුන් දැන් කරගෙන යන කටයුතුවල කූටප්‍රාප්තිය ලෙස , රතු පටි ව්‍යාපෘතිය නිල වශයෙන් ආරම්භ කිරීමේ අවස්ථාව ලෙස මෙම උත්සවය වැදගත් වෙයි .

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Lanka News: සී/ස පුද්ගලික සමාගමක් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීමට වඩා ඒක පුද්ගල කුඩා ව්‍යාපාරයක් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීම අපහසුයි

පොඩි බිස්නස් පොඩි කරන රතු පටි රෙගුලාසි ව්‍යාපෘතියේ අරමුණ වන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ව්‍යාපාර මුහුණ දෙන නීතිමය හා නියාමන බාධක හදුනාගැනීම , අධ්‍යයනය කිරීම හා ඒවා ඉවත්කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් පෙනීසිටීම යි . මෙහි මුල් පියවරක් වශයෙන් Advocata Institute “ක්ෂුද්‍ර හා කුඩා ව්‍යාපාරවලට ඇති නීතිමය හා නියාමන බාධා” පිලිබඳ වාර්තාව එලි දක්වනු ලැබීය. මෙහිදී නීතිමය හා නියාමන බාධක ඉවත් කළ යුතු හෝ සරළ කළ යුතු රජයේ ක්‍රියාවලි හා නීතී රීති පිළිබඳව ව්‍යවසායකයින්ට තම කලකිරීම හෝ අදහස් ඉදිරිපත්කිරීම සදහා www.redtape.lk වෙබ් අඩවියක් ද ආරම්භ කළේ ය.

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Citizen: “පොඩි බිස්නස් පොඩි කරන රතු පටි රෙගුලාසි” මාර්තු 5 එළිදැක්වේ

Advocata Institute සුළු සහ කුඩා පරිමාණ ව්‍යාපාරිකයින් මුහුණදෙන නීතිමය ගැටලු ගැන නවතම අධ්යන වාර්තාවක් මාර්තු 5 වැනිදා ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර් කෙන්ද්‍රයේ , ලයිට් හවුස් ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ, කොළඹ 07දී එළිදක්වනු ලබනවා. එම අධ්‍යන වාර්ථාව නම් කර තිබෙන්නේ “Legal and Regulatory Barriers for Micro and Small Entrepreneurs” (කුඩා  ව්‍යාපාරිකයින්ට බාධා කරන නීති සහ රෙගුලාසි) යන නමින්. මේ වාර්ථාව "පොඩි බිස්නස් පොඩි කරන රතු පටි රෙගුලාසි" යන දීර්ඝ ව්‍යාපෘතියක ආරම්භයයි. ඒක පුද්ගල ව්‍යාපාර සහ හවුල් ව්‍යාපාර අන්තර්ජාලය ඔස්සේ පහසුවෙන් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීම ගැන මෙම වාර්තාවෙන් අවධානය යොමු කරනවා. 

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Captial News: யாழ்ப்பாண பல்கலைக்கழக மாணவன் வெற்றி

It's more difficult to register a small business than a limited company: Advocata

Originally appeared on Lanka Business Online, Sunday Times, Yukthiya, Economy Next, The Morning, Ceylon Today, Daily FT, and Capital News

Advocata Institute launches report on regulations to small business and Red Tape Project

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Advocata Institute hosted their latest event, “පොඩි බිස්නස් පොඩි කරන කරන රතු පටි රෙගුලාසි” on the 5th of March 2020. This event served as the official launch of the Red Tape Project, the culmination of their ongoing work on removing legal and regulatory barriers faced by small and micro entrepreneurs.

The objective of the Red Tape Project is to identify, study, and advocate for the removal of legal and regulatory barriers faced by businesses in Sri Lanka. As a first step towards the process, Advocata launched a report on ‘Barriers to Micro and Small Enterprises in Sri Lanka’, as well as www.redtape.lk, a website for entrepreneurs to submit their frustrations or views on red tape and government processes and regulations that need to be removed or simplified.

The work on this project was then followed up by the #MystoryLK online competition, where Advocata asked micro and small entrepreneurs islandwide to send in essays, in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, detailing the barriers that they had faced in setting up their businesses and how they believed that the system could change to enable to reduce the issues that they faced. Advocata awarded the winners of the competition at the event. The competition was won by Madasamy Suventhiran. Second place was awarded to Vikum Rajapakse and third place to Elijah Hoole.

The report, ‘Barriers to Micro and Small Enterprises in Sri Lanka’ provides an understanding of the landscape of micro and small enterprises in the country, drawing from an island-wide survey. The survey highlights the various regulatory barriers that these enterprises face, ranging from issues of finance, registration, space and labour. The report focuses on addressing one of these barriers and proposes recommendations to streamline and rationalise the process of registration for sole proprietors and partnerships.

The event also hosted a panel discussion with Dr S. Rajapatirana (Chair, Academic Programme, Advocata Institute), Milinda Rajapaksha (Councillor, Colombo Municipal Council) and Achala Samaradiwakara (Co-Founder and Managing Director, Good Market). The panel was moderated by Dhananath Fernando (COO, Advocata Institute).

Read this article in Sinhala here.

Advocata to launch Red Tape Project next Thursday 05th of March

Originally appeared on Citizen, Daily FT, Daily News, and Daily Mirror.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Advocata Institute will be hosting their latest event, “පොඩි බිස්නස් පොඩි කරන කරන රතු පටි රෙගුලාසි” on the 5th of March 2020, 6.00 PM onwards at the Lighthouse Auditorium and Lawns (LKI, 24, Horton Place, Colombo 07). This event will officially launch the Red Tape Project, and will be the culmination of their ongoing work on removing legal and regulatory barriers faced by small and micro entrepreneurs.

The objective of the Red Tape Project is to identify, study, and advocate for the removal of legal and regulatory barriers faced by businesses in Sri Lanka. As a first step towards the process, Advocata will be launching a report on “Legal and Regulatory Barriers for Micro and Small Entrepreneurs”. The event will also feature the launch of a website for entrepreneurs to submit their frustrations or views on red tape and government processes and regulations that need to be removed or simplified.

The event will host a panel discussion among government stakeholders, policy makers and entrepreneurs, where barriers faced and reforms recommended will be discussed. Panelists include Dr. Sarath Rajapatirana (Chair, Academic Programme, Advocata Institute); Milinda Rajapaksha (Councillor, Colombo Municipal Council); Achala Samaradiwakara (Co-Founder and Managing Director, Good Market) and a Representative from the President’s Office.

As a component of this project, Advocata Institute hosted the #MystoryLK online competition where business entrepreneurs islandwide submitted stories of the barriers they faced when starting and running a business in Sri Lanka. The winners of this competition will also be announced and awarded at the event. The individual whose story wins first place will receive LKR 100,000. Second place will receive LKR 50,000, and third place will receive LKR 25,000. In addition to this, all shortlisted entries will receive valuable consolation prizes.

FREE EVENT! Date: March 5th (Thursday) 2020, 6PM onwards

Venue: Lighthouse Auditorium and Lawns (Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute) Limited seating,

RSVP here!

Read this article in Sinhala here.

Pulse mentions Advocata in "The Conditions Of Developing Enterprises In Sri Lanka" video

Pulse mentions Advocata Institute’s recent findings on legal and regulatory barriers to micro and small entrepreneurs in their latest video on the “The Conditions of Developing Enterprises in Sri Lanka”. This video also mentions an ongoing online competition by Advocata called #MyStoryLK.