Anoka Abeyrathne : A young trailblazer! 

Today Daily Mirror Life speaks to Anoka Abeyrathne, an eco-social entrepreneur, environmentalist and youth activist about her career which is both unique and inspirational. 

How would you explain your career?

I started my career as a volunteer, then moved on to become an environmental conservationist. Thereafter I became an eco-social entrepreneur and above all I am also a lawyer advocating on sustainable development. I am linked with the United Nations Sustainable Development Council, the Central Environmental Authority and other organisations such as the nature group of the UN. In addition to that I work with the Commonwealth.

Tell us a bit about your eco-social enterprise, ‘Growing Money’.

Through ‘Growing Money’ we replant mangroves and give the stakeholder-ship to communities  so that they can generate a source of income through making handicrafts, organic farming, making juices and also promote tourism so that they can give incentives out of it. The handicrafts are sold to places like Laksala and Lakpahana and they get a premium price. 5% of that is reinvested by our enterprise for further development approaches.

How can someone become an eco-social entrepreneur?

By finding an environment they are passionate about, then creating a social enterprise which adds to the social value. However, 65% of their earnings should be reinvested in order to develop it further.

What is your role as a youth activist?

I basically advocate for things like policy changes and rallying communities. This is to spread awareness about sustainability. So I work with like-minded youth activists to bring them together to make a difference.

What do you do in the Commonwealth?

I have never volunteered with them but I appear as a youth expert. I support them in terms of policy changes and rallying. I am the Deputy Focal Point for the Commonwealth Student programme. This is programme is basically about education, exchanges, workshops and about things which you can learn from experts. I am also there as a youth consultant at the CHOGM to guide them in the final draft. In addition to that I am the co-creator of the Commonwealth Gender & Equality Network.

What kind of personality should one possess if one wants to join this field?

I participated in Model United Nations during my days in school and I led my school delegation. Some people are really good at speaking and others speak well but what they speak doesn’t make sense. If you are kind, have goodwill towards everyone and can walk the talk then you are ideal for this field. We see people active on social media but who we are looking for are not online activists and it is also very difficult to be a grass-root activist.

What benefits does one get from this field?

There are lots of benefits. You get to meet other great young people, you get to do your own thing but it is not easy to set up your own enterprise. You have to spend long hours, take risks and all in all there is a lot of hard work involved. You basically have to plough through a storm.

What is most challenging about your job?

I am not doing a conventional job. Many people find it difficult to understand. But I think it’s hard to earn a living and this depends from person to person. Some find it difficult to tell their story. But you need to speak out and highlight what you are doing.

What do you mostly love about your job?

I love my freedom. I have the freedom to do what I want to do. Some complain about what they are doing but I never do that. It’s quite exciting.

How would you advise someone planning to join this field?

I would like to ask them to look around and do some research first. Before I started my enterprise I did a thorough research on mangroves. Since I did biology when I was in school I’m quite interested about the environment. You should always have facts in your hand and then you should talk to people. It’s important to rally the people and do something for the community as a whole.

Watch the video here.

By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe
Interview photographs by Kithsiri De Mel