ManKiwwa: A Sri Lankan Startup Named Among Six Global Finalists in Barcelona

Shohan Kulasuriya, founder of ManKiwwa, has developed an innovative app designed to address grassroots challenges in Sri Lanka’s rural towns.

The app has been recognized as one of six global finalists in the Innovation category at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2025, held in Barcelona, Spain.

Sri Lanka on a Global Stage

Representing Sri Lanka at this prestigious international event, ManKiwwa competed alongside finalists from India, the United States, Italy, South Korea, and South Africa.

Reaching the final six in a category of that scale is a significant achievement for any young company, and it earned the app global recognition for its potential to drive impactful solutions in rural communities.

Solving Problems Close to Home

What makes the recognition notable is where the idea came from. ManKiwwa was not built around a global trend or a borrowed concept. It was built around grassroots challenges in Sri Lanka’s rural towns — the kind of everyday problems that are easy to overlook but affect large numbers of people.

That local focus is often what gives a startup its strongest foundation. A founder who understands a problem first-hand tends to build something more useful than one working from assumptions.

Why This Matters for Startup Sri Lanka

Being named a finalist at an event of this size puts a Sri Lankan product in front of an international audience of city planners, technology companies, investors, and policymakers.

For the wider startup Sri Lanka community, it is an encouraging signal. It shows that a solution built for rural towns here can hold its own against entries from much larger and better-funded markets. Recognition of this kind also helps open doors — to partnerships, to funding conversations, and to opportunities in other countries facing similar challenges.

A Reason for Optimism

Stories like this one matter because they change what founders believe is possible. Many people assume that international recognition requires a big city, a big budget, or a product built for overseas markets from the start.

ManKiwwa suggests otherwise. It began with a real problem in Sri Lanka’s rural towns and ended up on a stage in Barcelona alongside finalists from six countries.

For Shohan Kulasuriya and his team, it is a strong milestone — and for other founders watching, a reminder of what local problem-solving can lead to.