Rural youth breathe fresh life into Sri Lanka

Around the world, young people are bringing their ambition for success to rural communities. Meet two young rural entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka who are making a difference. 

Magical mushrooms 

When Nadeeshani was a child, she was fascinated by her parents’ mushroom farm, housed in a tiny mud hut. She dreamed of taking over from them and, after completing her schooling, she did. 

“I became an entrepreneur because I didn’t want to work for anyone else,” says Nadeeshani. Thanks to a boost from the IFAD-funded STaRR project, she has kept the independence she dearly values. 

STaRR links rural entrepreneurs to training and finance. For example, Nadeeshani obtained loans from the state-owned Regional Development Bank, enabling her to double or sometimes even triple her production. She tapped into distribution chains and expanded her sales from small retail stores to national supermarkets. 

She also grew her range of products. Before, she sold four types of mushrooms, but now she prepares mushroom pickles, crisps and koki, a mushroom-flavoured biscuit. By adding value, she is bringing in higher returns and hopes to buy equipment to produce koki in larger quantities. 

Heavier rains caused by climate change have increased mushroom production, sometimes leaving Nadeeshani with more than she can sell. To prevent wastage, she has invested in a dryer to preserve the mushrooms. 

For Nadeeshani, the lesson is clear. “Young women should get more involved in the agriculture business,” she says. “There are always people like me around to help them become successful.” 

Her parents and sisters are helping her manage her growing business, and although their life revolves around mushrooms, they still look forward to a plate of delicious fungi, each done a different way.

Drive to succeed 

Twenty-five-year-old Supun Gamlath lives with his parents, sisters and a grandmother on their small family farm in southern Sri Lanka. His family has long been involved in agriculture, but the young college graduate wanted to take his career in a different direction, without having to leave his rural home. 

Supun found work painting cars, but it wasn’t until he applied for a loan through STaRR that he became the proud owner of his own garage, where he paints cars and motorcycles, making them good as new.  

Thanks to the loan, he invested in equipment, like a compressor and a polishing machine, which help him provide quality services to his clients and grow his business. 

But it’s the simple things that have enabled Supun’s business to flourish. “Nobody likes their vehicle getting wet in the rain,” he says. “Now that I have a bigger roof, that doesn’t happen anymore! I get more work and therefore more income.” 

These days, Supun earns up to triple the amount he used to before STaRR – and he has plans to do more. Instead of outsourcing small vehicle repairs, he wants to invest in equipment to do these himself.  

He’s also busy training other young people in his garage, managing his business profile on Facebook and spending his leisure time swimming off Sri Lanka’s famous beaches. And whenever he's needed, he’s always ready to lend a hand on his parents’ farm. 

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Dynamic young people, like Nadeeshani and Supun, are crucial contributors to prosperous rural communities that can sustainably feed the world and keep their families resilient to shocks.

Publication date: 29 December 2023