Indira Kithsiri

Indira Kithsiri is a bona fide social entrepreneur and youth empowerment advocate. She is currently authoring a book on successful entrepreneurs and inspirational leaders with Sri Lankan roots. Indira hopes to use their stories to inspire millennials to discover their passions, and maximise their potential through enterprise in the country.

Born in the mountains of Switzerland to a Swiss mother and Sri Lankan father, she holds a B.Sc. in International Hospitality Management from the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL), Switzerland. Alongside her studies, she founded SAHANA Sri Lanka, a non-profit organisation aiming to improve the living conditions and educational opportunities of underprivileged youth and women in Sri Lanka. For the past decade, she has implemented multiple impact-oriented projects across her native island in partnership with local and international organizations. These efforts led her to become the recipient of EHL's Social Responsibility Award.

Indira's professional career has spanned more than 7 years working on project development, relationship management and communications across Switzerland, India and Sri Lanka. These have included working across the private sector and non-profit spheres, both at the start-up level and within large organizations. Today, she is a Community Specialist for India and South Asia at the World Economic Forum, in Geneva, Switzerland. Her role includes managing government engagement with Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan, while developing regionally-focused strategies and value propositions for public figures.

Indira has always voiced the importance of society's investment in youth. Her passion for social enterprise and the mentoring of young entrepreneurs is the crux for her current book project. She believes this initiative will shape Sri Lanka's success story by contributing to foster an environment of entrepreneurship and innovation among the younger generation. Once her book is published, Indira hopes to translate it both in Sinhala and Tamil and distribute the textbook version to high-school students across the island. She also wishes to donate all sales proceeds to a non-profit organization offering mentorship programmes to young Sri Lankan entrepreneurs.