What difference do I make in society? What is my mission and vision and what do I need in order to accomplish them? We encourage our social entrepreneurs to answer these questions to develop themselves and to meet the challenges they are facing. Today, we present Sampath Senawatte, social entrepreneur in Kekirawa, Sri Lanka. He runs a learning center that offers English and IT classes for young people and business training for adults to foster entrepreneurship and improve employment chances on the countryside.
Sampath, how did your journey with BOOKBRIDGE start?
In 2016, I was surfing the internet and saw an online advertisement published by an organization named BOOKBRIDGE that said they were looking for a social entrepreneur. I thought that it was a good time for me to help others. At that time I was already doing community work in various ways but I hadn´t had the chance to be self-sustained. To have an organization backing you and supporting you to develop your social business idea was the reason why I applied for the program.
What change has BOOKBRIDGE brought to your life?
After becoming a social entrepreneur, I added two rules to my life: first, do not quit. Second, always remember the first rule. This is the immense impact BOOKBRIDGE had on my life.
What change have you brought to your community?
Encouraging people to think about the importance of learning English
Helping others to discover their talents
Supporting them in becoming self-sustainable and responsible persons in society
What vision do you have for your impact in the future?
Keeping my cause bigger than myself
Making the impact and benefits of my social enterprise visible to my community
Share my vision with my stakeholders
Partner with bigwigs in the field
Motivate my team
What does this vision mean for your social enterprise? What do you plan to offer?
I plan to offer
more job-oriented courses
training on the job
courses targeting employment opportunities
What does this vision mean for yourself? Where do you need to develop yourself to be ready?
As you can see on the chart, I need to develop more focusing skills and design-thinking skills.
