Explore the Entrepreneur in You - MAESTRO 2018

As told by Rtr. Dinithi Dissanayake,

‘Explore the Entrepreneur in you’ runs the slogan of MAESTRO, the newest venture of Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa. As the slogan suggests, it was indeed a great stage and a marvelous opportunity for the young minds to show away their business skills, which is currently an essential for the advancement of the corporate sector of Sri Lanka.

MAESTRO was the upshot of the novel concept drawn by our past members combined with the creative minds and talents of the present members. The project was organized as an Inter-University Business Challenge Competition where the registered teams of three had to come up with a solution for the given case study.

57 registrations led to 39 submissions which then led to 22 semi-finalists. The First Round comprised a workshop held on the 15th of September conducted by Dr. Buddhima Subasinghe and Mr. Heminda Jayaweera with the participation of the semi-finalists. The session was then wound up by announcing the six finalists of MAESTRO 2018. They were as follows;

               Team fire – Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura

               Team Dauntless – Rotaract Club of University of Colombo  Faculty of Management and Finance

               Team Imprenditori – Rotaract Club of ANC

               Team Breakeven – Wisdom Business Academy

               Team two plus two equals five – University of Kelaniya

               Team RWN – University of Moratuwa

The Final Round was then held on the 29th of September 2018 with grandeur with the graceful presence of an esteemed panel of judges comprising of six icons in the industry and the particular subject; Mr. Hafeez Rajudin (Vice President – Sri Lanka Institute of Credit Management ), Mr. Malaka Rubasinge (Managing Director of Singhe Group of companies), Mrs. Keshavi Puswewala (HR Business Partner – Corporate Functions & R&D and Employer Branding Lead – Sri Lanka of Unilever Sri Lanka), Mr. Jegan Durairatnam (Former Managing Director / CEO of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC), Rtn. Yukthi Gunasekera, (Managing Director- YKG Associates Pvt Ltd and Youth Service Director of Rotary Club of Colombo West), Mr. Thareendra Kalpage (Chief Operating Officer of Epic Lanka Technologies). The Head of the Table was Mr. Malaka Rubasinghe.

At 12 noon, the finalists were given the Unseen, and three hours were allocated for them to give a solution for the designed case study for MAESTRO 2018. By 5.00 p.m., the Civil Auditorium of University of Moratuwa became flooded with an audience of more than 200 enthusiasts, comprising of Rotaractors, parents and the supporters of the finalist teams.

The first three places were purely evaluated by the judges based on the performance in the finals. The most popular team was chosen by the social media voting and the live vote at the finals. And the best pitcher was the person who stood out of the crowd in grabbing the attention of both the audience and the judges.

Each team pitched their fantastic ideas on the stage and most of the pitches could terrifically attract and astonish the audience as well as the panel of judges.

After an intensive competition Ashwini, Shehani and Piyumi of Team Dauntless could sweep away most of the prizes at MAESTRO 2018 including the championship, the award for the best pitcher which was awarded to Shehani Leo and the title of the most popular team. The team Imprenditori secured the second place and team Breakeven became the third.  

MAESTRO 2018 was then winded up leaving a smile on each face that were present. Although everyone couldn’t obtain prizes, all the finalists thanked for giving them a splendid opportunity and also stated that they could really gain an enormous experience out of this cutting edge venture.

As Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa we are very grateful for the support rendered by the sponsors of MAESTRO 2018, platinum sponsor  Doxpro, gold sponsor Torenshal and the silver sponsors Wisdom Business Academy (Knowledge Partner) and Indian summer.

Finally, I would like to quote the well-wish of one of the judges of MAESTRO 2018, Rtn Yukthi Gunasekera,

“It was a super show – very meaningful and, important for Sri Lanka’s progress. I am confident that Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa will continue with this program in the future.”

This was just the inception of a long journey. We at Rotaract Club of University of Moratuwa will ensure that MAESTRO will grow even bigger, and will retain the name in the minds of the young generations in the years to come.