The World Economic Forum nominated Talal Rafi as Young Global Leader 2021 for his work on inspiring, connecting and transforming society for the better. Talal currently works with Chatham House London with industry experts from Goldman Sachs and World Bank on the topic “Leveling the playing field for women entrepreneurs”.


An entrepreneur by profession, Talal is actively involved in many other fields. Following his education in London, he gained valuable experience in the emerging industry of electronic cigarettes working in the City of London. With a focus on marketing and consultancy, Talal continued his experience in business in diverse sectors such as FMCG, real estate, insurance and banking.

As co-founder of the revolutionizing co-working space company, Hubpoint, Talal sought to leverage his international experience in addressing a key gap in the commercial real estate sector in Sri Lanka. As a Co-Founder of T3follow, Talal provided digital marketing solutions and insights to a diverse clientele. He is also the Founder & CEO of Sesame Associates (management consulting firm)

Talal is working as an Industry Expert for the World Bank’s AHEAD Project with the Entrepreneurship Center with Moratuwa University. Talal headed Entrepreneurship development at the USAID project YouLead as Entrepreneurship Specialist which works on empowering youth and women in entrepreneurship. He is on the Board of Directors for the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurship Network Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Colombo Stock Exchange SME Board. Talal is also a member of the Forbes Business Council.

Talal is also a member of the National Agenda Committee on Entrepreneurship Ecosystem of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. He is a Certified Professional Marketer, certified by the Asia Marketing Federation of Singapore.

Talal was selected for a leadership training programme conducted by the Bank of America and the Royal Bank of Scotland in London.

He is also a regular columnist for leading newspapers in Sri Lanka and has done joint campaigns with leading figures such as Professor Guy Standing, who is an economic adviser to the British Labour Party and with Dr Jim Pugh, who was a former Director under President Barack Obama. Talal is a leading advocate for the concept of remote working.