TVZ GRIT Founding Mentors Circle
Women Leaders Building Women Entrepreneurs
A tribute to the inaugural cohort of mentors who helped shape a cross-border ecosystem of empowerment, collaboration, and growth.
What is GRIT
Funded by Global Affairs Canada, the Growth, Resilience, Investment and Training (GRIT) project is a six-year initiative supporting women-led and women-serving enterprises in Sri Lanka. As part of this work, WUSC has mobilized high-skilled and high-net-worth individuals from the Canadian Tamil diaspora to strengthen Sri Lanka’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Through mentorship and volunteer engagements, diaspora experts provide insights into navigating North American markets, global supply chains, digital transformation and investment landscapes, offering guidance that helps women entrepreneurs overcome systemic barriers and compete internationally.
The TVZ GRIT Mentorship Program was made possible through the leadership, generosity, and commitment of an exceptional inaugural cohort of women mentors.
These leaders did more than guide founders. They helped shape the foundation of a mentorship ecosystem built on readiness, relatability, and relationships strengthening the capacity of women entrepreneurs across Northern Sri Lanka and Canada.
This mentor circle represented expertise from the following sectors:
- Leadership & Strategy
- Finance & Investment
- Entrepreneurship & Venture Building & Economic Development
- Procurement and Supply Chain
- Technology & Innovation
- Social Impact & Community Leadership
This page is a recognition of their contribution as Founding Members of the TVZ GRIT Mentors Circle.
Founder Impact
The impact of this cohort is reflected not only in program outcomes, but in the lived experiences of founders.
Mentor's Reflections
“It's so wonderful to watch a young lady thrive in this space for her business. Her aspirations and goals are no different than anyone else but with the opportunity to enter the Canadian market gives her hope. And now, she has a mentor for life if ever she needs to lean on me”
"Getting to meet and learn more about an amazing woman founder, understand her struggles and her resilience and creativity in overcoming them was such a rewarding experience for me"
"I was able to understand how challenging it is on the mentee's side and how our small insights makes difference in people's life"
Recognition of partner role in enabling mentor recruitment and ecosystem activation
WUSC Partnership
TVZ was selected to partner with WUSC to deliver programming under the GRIT initiative funded by Global Affairs Canada to empower a cohort of women entrepreneurs from Northern Sri Lanka who were seeking to grow their businesses and explore pathways into international markets, including Canada.
DMZ Partnership
TVZ mentors continue to be instrumental in DMZ’s Soft Landing Program to empower the top 3 woman founders from the TVZ GRIT Bootcamp to enter the Canadian market.
Vathsala McKone
Natural roots
Thas Yuwaraj
Neurofleets