We Currently Have 10,000 Young People Connected From Over 148 Countries - Mevan Peiris (Forbes 30 under 30)

I was actually invited by the World Economic Forum to lead a session at the 2019 Indian Economic Summit held in New Delhi on this topic. The sharing economy and the Gig economy have set the new norm of how technology is being used for better utilization of assets. 

1. Tell us more about your background and journey 

I schooled at S. Thomas’ College - a popular boys school in Sri Lanka. After leaving Highschool I completed a Diploma in Economics and BSc in International Relations, but right throughout, I have been trying out different things and been engaged in full-time or part-time work continuously for the past 10 years. 

I started off working as a sports journalist at a start-up sports website called ThePapare.com. Then I was invited to host a morning show on television called Good Morning Sri Lanka. I did these two things while reading for my degree. 

Thereafter I joined John Keells Holdings - for 4 years in the leisure sector at Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts where I was working in the brand marketing team. Our primary objective was to organize international scale events. 

We organized beauty pageants, global award programs, and conferences, a lot of events with global-level celebrities in order to gain publicity for Sri Lanka in the international arena and also to promote tourism as well as to promote the brand Cinnamon. 

After completing 4 years at Cinnamon, I moved as Head of Marketing for Elephant House Beverages. It’s the premium beverage company in Sri Lanka with a 150-year-old history, that was looking at ways to revitalize the brand. 

During this time we managed to launch a series of new products. We launched an entire sugar-free range which was a highlight during my time at Elephant House. 

After this, I took a dive into the start-up space because I wanted to take up a more challenging role and wanted to move away from just marketing to be more focused on overall operations. 

In April 2019, I joined Pickme food, as the Head of Operations, and the food delivery platform was still at its launch phase at the time. Over the last 17 months, we have been building the technology from the ground up. 

Every single feature of the platform is designed and built here in Sri Lanka using local talent. PickMe Food has been able to successfully compete with multinational giants like UberEats who is the sole competitor by the way. 

The highlight for me during this time is most definitely the last 5 months, especially with the coronavirus lockdown. Where we had to pivot the PickMe Food platform from delivering prepared meals to delivering essential goods, LP Gas, Groceries, and other necessities. 

Local entities like PickMe have the opportunity to leverage the in-house technology as well as the flexibility and speed of execution. 

From the end of March through till the end of April Sri Lanka had a blanket lockdown, there was hardly a proper mechanism for people to get their essentials delivered home. For most - PickMe Food was the best option. 

The prime minister himself tweeted out thanking PickMe for being the first to initiate partnerships with State institutions and get the delivery operation off-ground. 

In 2019, I had been nominated for the Forbes 30 under 30 list, and coincidentally Forbes announced their finalized list during April 2020. This was the same time that the PickMe delivery operation was at its peak. So I guess the timing made more sense, although it was quite overwhelming, to be honest. 

2. What is the Global Shaper Community at WEF? 

The Global Shapers Community is an initiative of the World Economic Forum. It was started around 10 years ago. It was a global platform and the community of young people broadly under the ages of 30. 

We currently have 10,000 young people connected from over 148 countries and with nearly 500 city-based hubs around the world. 

It is one of the largest youth movements that are not just connected for networking purposes but also committed to creating an impact in their own community and own professions. 

It is also a learning platform where we learn best practices, great projects and initiative’s that people around the world are doing and see how we can replicate to create a positive impact in each of our communities. 

I was selected as a global shaper 6 years ago, within the Colombo hub, I served as Vice Curator and thereafter Curator in the 2018/19. In 2019, I was appointed to the worldwide Advisory Council of the Global Shapers.

3. The hospitality industry has suffered a lot after the pandemic, how has your work suffered? 

Frankly, I am no longer in the hospitality industry. So it hasn’t had a direct impact on me personally but as you know a large part of the Sri Lankan economy is dependent on the Tourism Industry. 

If I was to comment in general on the hospitality industry and not just places of accommodation but all forms of leisure and especially the food and beverage industry (as PickMe Food was working with nearly 1,000 F&B establishments) I would say they are severely affected. 

Sadly we have lost many restaurants that were active before COVID as they never really managed to restart after the lockdown period. But we also have some great stories of hope where some Restaurant partners have been able to keep their business above water purely because of platforms like PickMe Food and our quick response in getting the delivery operations back on track. 

This is especially because for nearly 2months - the “dine-in” for Restaurants were prohibited by the government and Delivery and Take-Away were the only options. 

There have been so many small and medium scale restaurant owners who were thankful for making sure that their business was kept alive, I have personally received many comments, calls, feedback through social media and email, and apart from everything else, this is something that I’m very proud of. 

4. Your opinion about 'Shaping the Sharing Economy for Success’.

I was actually invited by the World Economic Forum to lead a session at the 2019 Indian Economic Summit held in New Delhi on this topic. The sharing economy and the Gig economy have set the new norm of how technology is being used for better utilization of assets. 

It's not necessarily a new phenomenon anymore it's been around for nearly 10 years now and it's picked up a lot of space in recent years. The most prominent of these are the accommodation booking platforms in the hospitality space as well as the platforms that operate in the space of mobility.

 As we know today Booking.com, Airbnb, Agoda, and others have a larger channel share in most markets compared to direct bookings. Similarly, platforms like Uber, Grab, and local platforms like PickMe in Sri Lanka, Ola, Swiggy, Zomato in India, etc are now the most frequently used methods to order a taxi or order your food. 

In the midst of this shift, I think there are a few important areas to be mindful of. Firstly, is the “equitable” use of these platforms. We have to make sure that all parties who are participating in the process are treated fairly and have fair gains.

In the simple example of taxis, we need to ensure that the vehicle owners/ drivers who are the driver-partners, the consumers/ users as well as the technology providers or the platform creators all benefit. 

In the case of PickMe Food in we actually have 4 key stakeholders in the mix. We have the delivery partners on one side who needs to earn a decent income, we have Restaurant partners who are looking for new ways to reach their customers especially through delivery.

So they need to benefit through incremental sales while paying a fair commission, then we have the customers who are obviously benefitting from the convenience of getting food delivered to their doorstep, and then you have PickMe Food as the entity that creates and manages this technology and who is continuously creating new features while also managing the logistical operations and making sure that the delivery partners recruited new restaurants recruits and there is the whole kind of homework done to keep all of these in play so in a situation like this you know one of the biggest things you to be mindful of all parties join into this process need to contribute, need to be participate, need to be take responsibility of the process and obviously at the end of the day they need to benefit in a fair way... 

So restaurants are in the middle and they are squeezed up, the delivery partners are also in most cases you know tend to not have a fair income ... So I think because challenges in the sharing economy are all parties participated in an equitable way but also benefit in a fair and positive way but then also the next big question in this space is about regulation and how we make sure that all parties are protected and no one is exploited and you know to take advantage of.

5. What is your definition of success? 

The definition of success, I mean that's a tricky question but to me, I think success is always not a steady-state it's always a journey because and it's always a moving target. 

I think it's healthy for anyone to be ambitious in whatever things they do but to be ambitious in a sense where it's not really about pushing other people aside and getting to the top or not being content but to be the best version of yourself or the best job that you can possibly do within your capabilities. 

So if you are confident that you are actually done the best that you can do. I think broadly success will anyway follow and to me, it's always the measurement of am I actually doing the best possible job that I can do and there is a question that I asked daily basis and obviously as I mentioned before this, as a result, it's a moving target because every day I’m trying to better myself and I am trying to do better than I did yesterday or the previous kind of time so it's a bit of complex question but to answer I would say in the short sense of the word it's a moving target and it's also doing the best that you can do and knowing that you have done best you can do...

I think that is where we know that Ok I am successful because I am doing the best that I can do and anything in between means that you have more room for improvement, there is more room for you to do better and that's where ambition should come into a kind of give yourself confidence but also the right to say look I got to do this more efficiently. I got to a better job and I know I can do better and I think that's what's going to keep moving you forward. 

6. Which is your favorite book and why? 

To be honest I used to read a lot growing up. But since of late unfortunately I’ve not been able to carve out the time to read too many books and this is something that I want to get back into. 

With regards to research and new ideation, I turn to visual content such as documentaries more, these days, than books. And if you properly look around Netflix and YouTube are treasure troves for some amazingly insightful content. 

Photograph Credits - LMD Sri Lanka

Mevan Peiris

Forbes 30 under 30 | Advisory Council - Global Shapers Community of WEF | Delegate - Indo-Pacific Youth Dialogue 2020

Interviewed By - Sandeep Virothu