Growth Hacking Talks by GBG Colombo

I’m sure most of you have heard about Google Business Groups (GBG Colombo) somewhere down the line. I’m writing today, about the latest thing they’re up to – a series of seminar/workshops called “Growth Hacking Talks” that are ideal for small business startups in Sri Lanka. Read on…

The Growth Hacking Talks sessions are designed with vital information and activities from the training and workshop conducted exclusively for the GBG organizing teams, conducted by Jon Yongfook  based on his popular eBook Growth Hacking Handbook, back in February this year. These sessions and activities focus on highly effective tips and tricks for growing a startup from zero, to over a million users (well, hopefully!)

Growth Hacking Talks are essentially hands-on sessions and in addition, these sessions will cover a host of topics including the use of Google Apps, Maps and various other Google products and services that are highly recommended for startups. These training programs are ideal for small biz startups that have already launched or are launch-ready. If you’re part of such an outfit, you can register up to 4 attendees for each startup. The training sessions will kick off from the first week of April 2016 and participants are encouraged to register as early as possible, in order to proceed with the selection process for the limited seating event.

Click Here to register your startup for Growth Hacking Talks

Another amazing opportunity would be that startups that register for Growth Hacking Talks will also be eligible to enter the Google Business Stories Challenge 2016, which is a global event hosted by Google with participants from over 100 countries world wide.

For more information about this program, email GBG Colombo at  gbgsrilanka@gmail.com

Advertisements

Google Sponsored Competition for Businesses in Sri Lanka

Here’s some great news for those of you who run your own business. If you’re running a start up, a small or medium business AND have been using Google products or tools to improve your business; you just might be eligible for the Google sponsored “Success Stories” competition that is held on a global scale.

 

What is “Success Stories”?

Are you using Google to do extraordinary things? Has technology enabled you to start new ventures, grow your business or affect the lives of those around you in a positive way? Then, Google Business Groups – an outreach initiative of Google – would love to hear from you. You can share your story for a chance to win $5,000 for your business. GBG in Colombo is conducting a global program to recognize start up businesses. If your business is in any of the following sectors and has benefited from using Google products, you will be eligible to submit your “success story” through GBG Colombo:

1) NGOs
2) Businesses in music/sports/entertainment
3) Technology related businesses

There is a prize money of $5,000 to be won for selected stories and your stories maybe featured in the next Google I/O as well.

For more information and updates, visit the Google stories page and the GBG Sri Lanka G+ page.

 

Your Last Chance!

You know what the best news is? If you come over to Coco Veranda this Saturday, 23rd August; you can meet the GBG Colombo team and register your business for this global competition on site. Entries close by end of August, so this would be the last chance for your submissions so DON’T MISS IT!!

And, in case you’re unable to make it, just fill this form online and submit – http://goo.gl/WXM1D9

Oh, and don’t forget to tell your friends and family if you think their business is eligible for this. See you at Coco!

 

disclaimer:

I’m co-manager for GBG Colombo.

Google Business Group – Colombo community meets-up again with top Google speaker

GBG Colombo’s first meetup for 2013 is today. The theme for this evening is ‘Innovation‘. The special guest for the evening is Julian Persaud who will be speaking on ‘Innovation at Google’.

Julian Persaud

Julian Persaud  is the Managing Director of Southeast Asia Sales and Operations for Google Inc., overseeing sales, marketing and partnership development in the region.

Prior to moving to Singapore, Mr. Persaud was based in Google’s Sydney office as the Head of Online for Google Australia, managing Google’s efforts to help small and medium sized Australian businesses take advantage of online advertising.

He was previously Head of Business Development at Google Australia, and has spent his entire career working in online businesses, including roles at Yahoo! Search Marketing and UK auction house QXL.

Here are the details of the GBG Colombo – March meetup:

Date   : Thursday, 21st March 2013
Time    : 6.30 PM
Venue : APIIT City Campus

Agenda:

➡ “Innovation at Google” by Julian Persaud, Managing Director of Southeast Asia, Google Inc.
➡ “Building an ecosystem to foster innovation” by Sanath Fernando
➡ “Using Innovative strategies in Eco Biz” by Sivahar Muthuramalingam
➡ “Innovating Marketing Solutions in the Digital Age” by Shehan Selvanayagam
➡ Refreshments & Networking session with Julian Persaud

You can register for today’s GBG Colombo event here – http://bit.ly/WGJi9s.

Networking With Speakers

GBG Colombo team is keen on having a longer networking session this time so the attendees can meet Julian Presaud as well as the other speakers of the evening, one-on-one. GBG Colombo team also encourages participants to network and make the most of the evening. For this event, APIIT Sri Lanka has been a generous venue provider as well as coming forward in providing the crowd with refreshments for the networking session. Free WiFi is provided courtesy Etisalat Sri Lanka.

Sanath Fernando

There are three other speakers who will be speaking at the event. First speaker Sanath Fernando has 20 years of industry experience and is currently Founder/CEO of Ridgecrest Asia (Pvt) Ltd., a company providing solutions in Global Capital Markets and Online Consumer Services. Prior to founding Ridgecrest, Mr. Fernando served as Managing Director of Charles Schwab’s Capital Markets division. He is also a Director at SLASSCOM and Co-Founder & Director of Lankan Angel Network.

Sivahar Muthuramalingam

Second speaker Sivahar Muthuramalingam is JCI TOYP 2012 Environment leadership award winner and is the Founder & Head of Marketing of Think Green (Pvt) Limited. He has 6 years experience on international trade and on environment management. Sivahar is a graduate from Edith Cowan Perth (Australia) and holds an MBA from University of Southern Queensland (Australia) He also received the prestigious Deans award for outstanding academic performances from University of Southern Queensland (Australia). Sivahar is been involved in Providing Electronic recycling & Eco friendly solutions since 2006 and formally set up ” Think Green” company in 2011 June. He is passionate about leading Think Green in providing innovative solutions to make Sri Lanka an environmentally sustainable destination of Asia.

Shehan Selvanayagam

The final speaker of the evening Shehan Selvanayagam is the CEO of Loops Solutions which is the leading Digital Marketing company in Sri Lanka currently providing digital media solutions for over 35 brands ranging from Small Business, Local Industry Leaders and Multinational Companies. He has over 10 years of experience in the E-Commerce Industry in Sri Lanka with an educational background of B.Sc in Business Management, Chartered Marketer as well as an MSc in Information Technology

RSVP

Registration and attendance for GBG Colombo is Free. You can also RSVP the official G+ event page and keep tabs of the details and any changes with regard to the event, which GBG Colombo will be making available on this space. This event will be broadcast live via Hangout On Air for those who are not in Colombo, Sri Lanka. HOA link will be posted on the G+ event page when the event commences.

The Social Media Marketing Conference

Hello my readers, today I would like to let you know that I will be doing a full day conference on Social Media Marketing on Tuesday, 12th February 2013 (that’s just a couple of days from now) from 9.00 AM to 5.00 PM at the Galadari Hotel.

For whom

I would like to recommend this for beginners to intermediate level Social Media marketers or sometimes who we call ‘account managers’ and Page admins. Maybe this would not go down too well with absolute beginners who are clueless about SMM but I guess one could still learn a thing or two. I would also not recommend this to the ‘pros’ who’ve been in the industry for the past 2-3 years. Nope, you would find this pretty boring :)

How to participate

This conference is organised by McQuire Rens & Jones, the people who conduct all sorts of exclusive corporate training programs. You can find more details on how to participate, on their website HERE or you can check out the e-flyer below. For registrations and more details, call them on 0727-002002, 0115-833100 or 0115-836888.

If you want to know more about this from me, Tweet me @InduNan and I’ll be happy to help! :)

Feedback

If any of you are hoping to attend this conference, let me know in comments below and don’t forget to come say ‘Hi’ to me at the conference. Also, after attending the conference, I would love to hear your thoughts on it so go ahead and comment below when you come back – or you could always Tweet me :)

– Update –

If you’re at The Social Media Marketing Conference, you’re most welcome to live-tweet with the hashtag #SMMconSL13 and even G+ update if you like!

 

GBG Colombo Organizes The Next Meetup In November

Those who have heard of the GBG Colombo, also known as Google Business Group in Colombo and those who have been eagerly awaiting the next GBG Colombo event, you would be interested to learn that the next GBG Colombo meetup will be held on the 16th of November. Here are the details and how to register to attend this event.

Date – Friday, 16th November 2012

Time – 6.00pm

Venue – Srilanka Foundation Institute, #100, Independence Square, Colombo 7

Agenda:

Welcome + Introduction
1. Digital Landscape Overview by Jana Levene – Emerging Markets Programs Manager, Google
2. Improving Your Google Search Rankings by Shamelle Perera – Senior Project Manager, Creative Solutions
3. EndIgnornace.com by Taha Bawa – Founder, endignorance.com
4. TedExYouth by Dilumi Dissanayake – Head Curator, TEDxYouth@Colombo
5. Google+ Workshop by Hadi Mohd Mini – Outreach Program Manager, Google (bring your laptops would definitely help!)
Vote of thanks by Rohan Jayaweera – Country Consultant, Google Srilanka
Refreshments + Networking Session

Click HERE to Register and RSVP the event.

If you’d like to email or notify your friends the ‘Registration + RSVP form’  or  invite them to GBG Colombo, use this link: http://bit.ly/UAhOfm

Third GBG Colombo Meetup

This time, the GBG Colombo has great timing since some Google folks are in town. There will be two speakers from Google Inc. scheduled to speak at the November GBG. Jana Levene – Emerging Markets Programs Manager, Google will be speaking about Digital Landscape Overview. The second speaker, Hadi Mohd Mini – Outreach Program Manager, Google will conduct a mini workshop on Google+ which is what I personally can’t wait for! And of course, bringing your laptop for the G+ workshop would definitely help.

What is GBG Colombo

For those who haven’t heard of GBG Colombo yet or what’s Google doing in Srilanka, go read the post I wrote  in view of the second GBG meetup in Colombo. They had their first ever meetup back in May this year.

If you’re on Google+ don’t forget to RSVP and invite your friends who might be interested in attending – by going to the official G+ event link HERE:

How can you connect with GBG Colombo

The official page is on Google+
GBG Colombo has a Facebook group, LinkedIn group and are also on Twitter.

More updates to come, stay tuned :)

Disclaimer: I'm part of the organizing committee at GBG Colombo

Srilanka’s Perera and Sons become active on Social Media

It was just yesterday that I noticed Perera & Sons had started following me on Twitter!

Perera and Sons on Twitter?

I didn’t even know that Perera and Sons were on Twitter before, so I started following them (@pereraandsons) back. Curiosity got the better of me so I asked them a question. An hour or so later, they managed to get me into their conversation. It wasn’t just me, quite a few Tweeps were tweeting about how not only Perera but his sons were also following them! lol

During the conversation with “Perera and his sons” that went on till late into the night, they promptly announced that they will be getting on FourSquare and will be doing some interesting promotions, starting with 15 pre-decided outlets.

Lucky for me, who pass by the Thalawathugoda and the Kotte outlets of the franchise almost daily – it seems that those two outlets ARE on the initial list.

Social Media in Sri Lankan Businesses

Last year has seen businesses taking a significant move from traditional marketing to integrating Social Media into the marketing mix, almost all around the world and in every arena. And some predict that the year 2011 will be the year of the “Social Media Bubble”. Throughout last year we have also noticed how a number of Srilankan business too, making a move towards social media marketing. But are we just following the herd or are we actually making any marketing sense? Do you think that the local businesses embracing social media is due to the noise social media marketing has made globally or have they actually seen the huge potential in it?

As I mentioned before, this year (2011) has been foretasted as the year that Social Media will come forward and lead the way to marketing, PR and generally – how we run our businesses. So are we ready for this here in Sri Lanka?