Aravinth Panch

Aravinth is a devoted social entrepreneur empowering underserved communities in war-affected regions of Sri Lanka to solve local socio-economic and environmental challenges. He was born in a beautiful coastal town called Batticaloa at a difficult time when his family lost several members - innocent civilians slaughtered as collateral damages in the civil war. At the age of 14, he escaped the country in fear of becoming a child soldier, for ten years exiled as a refugee and returned to his motherland when the war ended almost after three decades. In the meantime, he gained extraordinary interdisciplinary experiences in science, engineering, sustainability and art while solving very complex problems and co-founded several successful organisations in Asia & Europe. His craving to uphold those who went through the same life experiences propelled him to co-found DreamSpace Academy - a non-profit social enterprise tackling local challenges through challenge-based learning, grassroots innovation and impact venture building. With DreamSpace Academy, he co-created a personalised empowerment model that identifies motivated youngsters from vulnerable societies, training them with interdisciplinary workshops in topics from storytelling to biotechnology, ultimately leading them to become social entrepreneurs. DreamSpace Academy has been crowned the Science Engagement Breakthrough of the Year 2019 at Falling Walls.