Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Lasantha Wickramasinghe, Payoneer Brand Ambassador for Sri Lanka.
Freelancing and online entrepreneurship is booming in Sri Lanka. Most of the freelancers and online entrepreneurs in the country prefer to use Payoneer, so that they can gain access to the funds earned by offering products or services to international clients.
Due to the increased demand, Payoneer wanted to strengthen its operations in the country. As the first step to it, Payoneer appointed me as their Brand Ambassador. I founded the largest freelancing and entrepreneurship community in Sri Lanka. Following that, Payoneer wanted to empower the freelancers and online entrepreneurs in the country by organizing a meetup. The first ever Payoneer meetup was held on 12th of August at Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Freelancers, entrepreneurs and business professionals who use Payoneer or who are interested in using Payoneer were invited to take part in this event.
The first speaker of Payoneer Meetup was Janith Wickramasinghe, who shared his success story as a freelancer. He also shared some useful insights on how to work as a freelancer and be successful. Freelancers who were present at the audience raised their questions and Janith promptly answered them.
I was the second speaker of the day and I shared my life story with the audience and explained how I always wanted to transform myself from being an active income earner to a passive income earner. I also explained how I wanted to form a BPO Company in Sri Lanka, so that I can bring in revenue into the country and retain talent from moving out of the country.
Samuel Salinda, who is the Partnerships Manager for South East Asia and Sri Lanka at Payoneer was the third speaker of the meetup. Samuel explained how Payoneer can be used by freelancers and online entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka to facilitate cross border payments. Samuel motivated audience to start working as freelancers or to establish new business ventures, so that they can capitalize available opportunities.
The last speaker of the day was Shanaka WickramaArachchi. Shanaka is a Tech Evangelist working for Dialog Axiata PLC. He explained the services offered by Dialog Ideamart and what benefits can be obtained by them.
The first ever Payoneer meetup in Sri Lanka was a success. Audience got the opportunity to witness a couple of productive hours at the event and enhance their knowledge. Most importantly, they were able to network with the best professionals in the industry. Payoneer will be looking forward to organize many such meetups in the future for the enthusiastic individuals scattered around the country.