Nihal S.Dissanayake
My sister's small business gave me an opportunity to work during my
school holidays. It was at this grocery and tea room, I first got the
experience is using weights and measures; and also preparing and
serving tea for our customers. It also gave me an opportunity to deal
in and control cash; and also to deal with all sorts of people of
different nationalities and social standings.
At the age of nineteen I left school and started working as a teacher
in a jungle area where the elephants take over the main road by four
in the evening and the deer move into the village. Later I moved into
Colombo to work as a clerk.
I completed my bachelor’s degree in economics while working. But,
for my MBA, I attended the Universite des Sciences Socials,in
France, where I also got an opportunity to work as a Management
Trainee at Aerospatiale, the biggest aircraft manufacturing company
in France.
My job experiences include clerk, lecturer, share broker, dealer in
securities, marketing consultant and CEO. As a consultant, and
CEO in a fund management company, I have been involved in sales
training, advisory services and dealing in securities.
My writing experience commenced when I was invited to write a
weekly column on the Colombo Stock Market for the Sunday
Observer. Writing advertisements and promotional literature for my
employer and my clients gave me the experience necessary for me
to start my own monthly management journal for the small business
sector.
While working as the Chief Editor of my journal, Athwela Business
Journal, I participated in exhibitions, seminars and weekly radio
programs. For our radio program I developed a case study on
starting and running a small business. I co-authored six books on
management with my daughter, Nilooka. The English language issue
of my magazine did not continue for long. After acquiring computer
programming skills, I launched two web sites of my own: one on
small business, and the other on happiness.
Now I work as a consultant in small business management and in
promoting my non-profit trust which has the objective of promoting
happiness and mind control techniques. I practise meditation
regularly to improve the quality of my life.
Why I started Writing:
Photography was my hobby. I read a lot, purchased a camera and
started shooting, from my very young days. We organized motor
cycle trips during the week ends to use my camera. It was a
satisfying experience; but the scope was limited. I wanted to
combine photography with writing. I read a lot about writing and
started writing for a foreign news letters and magazines.
With a friend of mine, we went on a seven-day walk, along the most
beautiful beaches in Sri Lanka to write articles for the tourist
industry. Although our first article was fantastic, we could not sell it
because of the terrorist problem in the country. The same problem
gave me an extended vacation from my job as a lecturer, which I
made use to write my first novel: THREE HUNDRED YEARS TO
LIVE. My manuscript won me a fellowship to study creative writing
in the Philippines.
At the same time, another scholarship to study management in
France was also offered to me. When I went to France my writings in
English could not continue. I had a bigger challenge to learn the
French language and write my thesis within two years. So, I started
writing in French. Target: one full page per day. I ignored grammar
and continued to write. My goal was to acquire a good speed in
writing in French. I won. After my MBA, I traveled extensively in
Europe, looking for opportunities to get into the tourist industry.
Back at home, with my MBA, I got employed as a consultant in
marketing at the National Institute of Business Management. Later I
moved into the Bank of Ceylon to work on a project promoted by the
International Finance Corporation on small industry. My
responsibilities involved management audits, writing reports and
advertisements and promotional literature.
My main job was to promote the first merchant bank in the country,
and then the share broking firm which I stared for my employer
where I was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer with a place on
the Board.
Later I was requested to promote the unit trusts industry in Sri
Lanka. That, I now think was the most challenging job in my life. And
it enabled me to create a name for me in the national media. I also
was invited to write a weekly column on the stock market for the
Sunday Observer and about the local business environment in the
Sunday Island.
After leaving my job as CEO of the fund management company, I
started my own business management journal to combine,
photography, management and also my wring skills. I acquired
computer skills too, and started two websites: one on happiness and
the other, on small business.
The contents in my website www.happicraft.com was printed and
published by Stanford Lake Publishers as a book:Happicraft.com--
The Craft of Harnessing Mind Power for Happy living.
Now, mellowed, I have a dream: to offer meditation skills to reduce
suffering and make others happy. I have a non profit trust, which
needs money for its development and operations.
My latest novel AGNI REGAINS HER HAPPINESS is about
happiness and would be in the market by the end of the year.
Now I am working on my second novel: The Happyraj. It is based on
the concept of the Happyraj created by me in my website: www.
happicraft.com
- The Contents
| HappiLogo The red colour in the HappiLogo is happiness; the gray colour is unhappiness and the white is the zone of indifference OUR PHILOSOPHY "HAPPINESS IS WEALTH SUPREME" Lord Gautama Buddha [sixth century BC] OUR OBJECTIVE To help you share that supreme wealth OUR TECHNOLOGY To provide you with the attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary to share that wealth |
| Nihal Dissanayake explains the concept of Athwela to the visitors including the former Minister Mr.C.V.Guneratne and Present President Mr. Mahanda Rajapaksaa in the photo are Dr. Gamini Fernando, and Nilooka Dissanayake Photo:Athwela |
