New Project and scholarship for 5 students for 6 months period
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kosala wickramasinghe
Aug 13, 2022, 5:24:08 AM8/13/22
to 92/93- batch
Dear
all, hope you all well & safe
We
had an informal discussion with
Prof. Sarath Kodituwakku (Faculty Dean) and Dr Nissanka about scholarship for 5 students for 6 months period.
Nishantha
had a discussion with few batchmates last week and decided to go ahead with 5 x scholarship and further update will be sent in due course.
On
same discussion had with Dean, we suggested/proposed a project to start & run food kiosk ( common room kitchen) at faculty. below is the draft of letter we are planning to send to Dean end of next week ( 19th Aug).
We
would appreciate your comments/suggestions by Thursday 18th Aug for us to finalize our project proposal.
I
am sure we have keen colleagues who can support this worthy project in numerous ways. please do let us know if you would like to get involved & support so invite can be sent for further discussion.
Project
Hummingbird
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Name: Project Description:
Project objective:
Project ‘Hummingbird’
Establish and operate a commercially sustainable food kiosk within the
University/Faculty premises
1). To support needy students with job opportunities
2). To provide food security for them
3). To create a place to learn real life skills
4). To encourage students to overcome welfare mentality
92/93 Batch of the Faculty of Agriculture
Dean, Faculty of Agriculture – Prof. Sarath Kodituwakku 18 months until the project reaches its sustainability
We have received a letter issued by AAFAUP dated 18th July 2022 requesting support for needy students.
We acknowledge that the needy students’ scholarship has provided much needed financial assistance for many students since its inception in 1980s. We fondly remember that we also organised a musical show to fund this project just like all the other batches. It is also observed that these scholarship grants have made a discernible difference to recipients individually. Our batch also had 6-7 members who were recipients of financial grants from the Fund.
We note the current financial situation in Sri Lanka, and it has been a result of many factors. We firmly believe that there should be a change in attitudes among people to make a long-lasting change in society. Hence, we must challenge the status quo and it’s our belief that any support our batch provides towards this programme should demonstrate more societal/community returns (i.e., merely graduating with a good GPA is no longer sufficient as a return on investment).
Proposal:
We will fund 5 students (within or outside the Needy Students Fund) primarily for a 6 month term. These 5 students will consist of the Project Hummingbird ‘Team’. Within this time, the Team is expected to create the concept and start operating the food kiosk within the University/Faculty premises.
Within 6 months:
1. The project team will submit their capital requirement to start the operations as part of the proposal.
2. Based on the proposal submitted by the project team, we’ll inject equity for the capital expenses required to start the operations.
3. We’ll monitor (via a supervisory board of the project) the ongoing progress of the project, including monthly meetings to provide feedback and suggestions.
Project Funder:
Project Sponsor:
Time frame: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preamble:
The Food Kiosk:
The food kiosk should consist of a very slick operation in term of management and general administration. The basic idea of this project is not to run another community kitchen. This project will be completely different from a traditional community kitchen, and enable the team to show entrepreneurial skills, and learn some real-life management, marketing and capital raising skills.
Some of the key areas the project team should look at:
1. Cleanliness of the premises
2. Branding of the food kiosk
3. Uniform for everyone who works
4. Ability for additional volunteers to contribute/work at the kitchen (both staff and students)
5. Pricing strategy for normal clients (outside of needy students)
6. Use of social media
7. Extra capital raising
The project funder will be happy to top up some equity gaps in the first 6 months of the operations.
Funding:
The overall general project funding requirements will be covered by the individual contribution of the 92/93 batch. However, from time to time we may go to individual members of the batch to get extra contributions towards to project.
Commitment from the Faculty:
We request ongoing support from the Faculty administration to provide infrastructure for the projects. (i.e., a place to operate without any obstacles, access to power etc.). Also, it will be important to have at least one Faculty staff member as the staff coordinator.
Future:
We would like this food kiosk to be a permanent feature of the Faculty where students learn and practice technical, management and marketing skills. This might also be a place where past students can volunteer as staff.
Additionally, we’ll endeavour to fund any potential future teams to start new ventures outside the faculty as an equity partner.
Contacts (92-93 Batch):
Nishantha Weerasinghe (Colombo, SL) Rasika Abeysekara (Kandy, SL)
Kosala Wickremasinghe (Birmingham, UK) Upul Jayaweera (Brisbane, Australia)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abbreviations
The University The Faculty
The Batch Needy Students Grants
The Project Team
– University of Peradeniya
– Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
– 92/93 batch of the Faculty of Agriculture
– The current and potential recipients of Needy Students Scholarship Grants – The scholarship grants provided by the Needy Students Fund
Project Name: Project Description:
Project objective:
Project ‘Hummingbird’
Establish and operate a commercially sustainable food kiosk within the
University/Faculty premises
1). To support needy students with job opportunities
2). To provide food security for them
3). To create a place to learn real life skills
4). To encourage students to overcome welfare mentality
92/93 Batch of the Faculty of Agriculture
Dean, Faculty of Agriculture – Prof. Sarath Kodituwakku 18 months until the project reaches its sustainability
We have received a letter issued by AAFAUP dated 18th July 2022 requesting support for needy students.
We acknowledge that the needy students’ scholarship has provided much needed financial assistance for many students since its inception in 1980s. We fondly remember that we also organised a musical show to fund this project just like all the other batches. It is also observed that these scholarship grants have made a discernible difference to recipients individually. Our batch also had 6-7 members who were recipients of financial grants from the Fund.
We note the current financial situation in Sri Lanka, and it has been a result of many factors. We firmly believe that there should be a change in attitudes among people to make a long-lasting change in society. Hence, we must challenge the status quo and it’s our belief that any support our batch provides towards this programme should demonstrate more societal/community returns (i.e., merely graduating with a good GPA is no longer sufficient as a return on investment).
Proposal:
We will fund 5 students (within or outside the Needy Students Fund) primarily for a 6 month term. These 5 students will consist of the Project Hummingbird ‘Team’. Within this time, the Team is expected to create the concept and start operating the food kiosk within the University/Faculty premises.
Within 6 months:
1. The project team will submit their capital requirement to start the operations as part of the proposal.
2. Based on the proposal submitted by the project team, we’ll inject equity for the capital expenses required to start the operations.
3. We’ll monitor (via a supervisory board of the project) the ongoing progress of the project, including monthly meetings to provide feedback and suggestions.
Project Funder:
Project Sponsor:
Time frame: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preamble:
The Food Kiosk:
The food kiosk should consist of a very slick operation in term of management and general administration. The basic idea of this project is not to run another community kitchen. This project will be completely different from a traditional community kitchen, and enable the team to show entrepreneurial skills, and learn some real-life management, marketing and capital raising skills.
Some of the key areas the project team should look at:
1. Cleanliness of the premises
2. Branding of the food kiosk
3. Uniform for everyone who works
4. Ability for additional volunteers to contribute/work at the kitchen (both staff and students)
5. Pricing strategy for normal clients (outside of needy students)
6. Use of social media
7. Extra capital raising
The project funder will be happy to top up some equity gaps in the first 6 months of the operations.
Funding:
The overall general project funding requirements will be covered by the individual contribution of the 92/93 batch. However, from time to time we may go to individual members of the batch to get extra contributions towards to project.
Commitment from the Faculty:
We request ongoing support from the Faculty administration to provide infrastructure for the projects. (i.e., a place to operate without any obstacles, access to power etc.). Also, it will be important to have at least one Faculty staff member as the staff coordinator.
Future:
We would like this food kiosk to be a permanent feature of the Faculty where students learn and practice technical, management and marketing skills. This might also be a place where past students can volunteer as staff.
Additionally, we’ll endeavour to fund any potential future teams to start new ventures outside the faculty as an equity partner.
Contacts (92-93 Batch):
Nishantha Weerasinghe (Colombo, SL) Rasika Abeysekara (Kandy, SL)
Kosala Wickremasinghe (Birmingham, UK) Upul Jayaweera (Brisbane, Australia)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abbreviations
The University The Faculty
The Batch Needy Students Grants
The Project Team
– University of Peradeniya
– Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
– 92/93 batch of the Faculty of Agriculture
– The current and potential recipients of Needy Students Scholarship Grants – The scholarship grants provided by the Needy Students Fund
–
The 5 students of the faculty who commit to work on the project
Thank you
Kosala
Wasantha Abeyasingha
Aug 14, 2022, 3:22:50 AM8/14/22
to 92-93...@googlegroups.com
Dear Kosala
It is very important to help needy students. Selection should be done properly. I propose to select students who are in their final year in remote areas and not receiving Mahapola or any other financial help. At that time we also faced many difficulties.
Thanks
regards
W.Abeysinghe
(Podimalli)
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Wasantha Abeysinghe
Senior Envirnment & Implementation Officer
Wasantha Abeysinghe
Senior Envirnment & Implementation Officer
North Western Province Canal Project (NWPCP)
Polpithigama.
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kosala wickramasinghe
Aug 14, 2022, 3:45:24 AM8/14/22
to 92-93...@googlegroups.com
Great to hear Ravi and thanks for your reply really appreciated. Will ring you later, keep in touch machan
Kosala
Sent from my iPhone
On 14 Aug 2022, at 08:22, Wasantha Abeyasingha <wasan...@gmail.com> wrote:
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/92-93batch/CAPdPNNREn0fJpvDoUVV0Z3TGxf7Dy%2Bswq1FMNAsGD1c0gTZR1g%40mail.gmail.com.
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