We pulled off a small Meetup in Kandy, bringing together a fresh batch of young Trinity entrepreneurs under one roof, and honestly, the energy in the room did most of the talking. It had that raw early-stage founder vibe, equal parts ambition and curiosity, the kind that makes you believe the best ideas are still ahead of us.

And the best part? This wasn’t just another youth event. It hit me halfway through that this was a full circle moment in motion.

Almost 8 years ago, I was the student writer lucky enough to interview Venura right when he was introducing a military-grade computer built into a briefcase. It was intense, compact, a literal computer packed like a mission-ready device. Even then, it wasn’t just the product that stuck with me, it was the mindset. He was building things that sounded impossible to most of us at that age, and doing it with zero hesitation.

Cut to today, and Venura and Yassassvi are now mentoring a new group of Grade 11 innovators. Watching them guide these students felt like witnessing a handover ceremony, but the kind that doesn’t need a stage. Just two people who’ve lived the builder journey, now steering younger minds to think beyond obvious solutions, question deeper, and treat innovation like something you do, not something you announce.

I felt grateful sitting there, listening to conversations bounce from ideas to prototypes to potential impact. Not because every idea was perfect, but because every student was thinking like they were one step away from changing something real. That matters. A lot.

Trinity College Kandy has always had that quiet confidence, the kind that produces thinkers who later turn into doers. Seeing these sparks now stretch beyond Kandy, potentially beyond Sri Lanka, makes me believe that the next wave of change makers is already warming up.

Also, credit where it’s due: Barista Coffee Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and Dilupa Pathirana designed a space that made thinking feel effortless. No forced creativity. No staged inspiration. Just a room that let ideas flow the way they should, naturally. That’s what a true collaboration hub looks like. And yeah, #ThinkTall felt very appropriate.

If anything, today reminded me of this: mentorship accelerates ideas, culture sustains them, and the future belongs to the kids who start building before anyone tells them they can.

Because innovation isn’t a moment. It’s a loop. And once you step into it, you just keep passing it forward.