SLASSCOM to hold thought leadership session

Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) in collaboration with Latitude655, will be holding a thought leadership session featuring Mani Kulasooriya, the CEO and Founder of Monvia, a product innovations company based in Silicon Valley, on June 23, 2011 at the Lower Crystal Room, Taj Samudra, Colombo. The event targets entrepreneurs, academics and IT professionals and will be held from 7:30 am – 9:30 am.Free passes are available for university lecturers, by prior reservation. 

The session will highlight two main emerging trends in Silicon Valley - the vanishing boundary between the online and offline spheres (and business models that follow that concept) and hybrid (offline) businesses that use technology at its core. The session will also highlight current innovation issues in Sri Lanka and illustrate how Silicon Valley trends can benefit Sri Lankan businesses.

When asked about current trends, Mr. Kulasooriya stated his thoughts on innovating for businesses in Sri Lanka, ‘‘one of the largest innovation trends that will take place in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the world will be in online-to-offline hybrid business models. New, non tech offline businesses with technology at its core will dominate and take market share away from all industries. No industry is safe’.

When specifically asked about the Sri Lankan market, Mr. Kularooiya maintained that: “when one innovates for Sri Lanka, one should design businesses and service products from scratch. What works elsewhere does not necessarily work here. One should not emulate….but, innovate’.

Founder and Managing Partner of Monvia, Mr. Mani Kulasooriya is an entrepreneur and executive with more than ten years of business experience. He has a track record of launching over 15 ventures in the financial and consumer internet space. His company engages on strategic projects for fortune 500 companies such as Yahoo!, Citibank, Chase and Conde Nast. Prior to founding Monvia, he served as Senior Manager of Business Development at Yahoo!, Associate Vice President at Citigroup eCiti, and founded CrossFunds. He earned his B.S. in Engineering from Tulane and holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University.

SLASSCOM, renowned as the catalyst of growth for the Sri Lankan IT and BPO industry, acts to propagate education and encourage research & innovation amongst its specialized services in developing technology lead entrepreneurship for businesses in the island. Mani’s valued experience and knowledge are tapped into the Sri Lankan IT and business environment through Latitude655, a Sri Lankan innovation and technology consulting company which in partnership with Monvia, offers local businesses with the latest in Silicon Valley innovation: a partnership which has yielded 14+ US/world-wide patents.