Financial Times

Chamari Kahavithana, the only child of a single parent, dropped out of university while reading for an arts degree to take care of her sick mother but she never gave up hope for a bright future.

Deciding to take life as it comes she started her own business SKC Products which manufactures decorative cloth items like cushion covers and wall hangings.

Business was going well when fate turned against her as the tsunami destroyed all her products, machinery and her a part of her house.

However Ms Kahavithana was given a new lease of life with the assistance of ‘Back to business’ livelihood recovery programme of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) earning a well deserved bronze award in the Tsunami Woman Back to Business” at the recently concluded Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 awards ceremony held in Colombo.

The event organised by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI) brought together successful entrepreneurs of different communities and different walks of life.

The awards were given out under four different categories based on the size of the business and there were special awards for ‘the Tsunami Woman Back to Business’ and ‘Most Innovative Enterprise’. M. B. Priyani, who bagged the gold award of the ‘Tsunami woman back to business’, who ran a lace manufacturing industry with 250 employees working under her lost every thing in the tsunami but with the help of the Back to Business programme she was able to rebuild the business.

At present she has 60 full time workers and has subcontracted with another 150 and is confident that her lace industry would be back to its former state.

Ms. Helani Fernando, sole proprietor of School of Radiant Creations which conducts classes on women and mass media and production of wooden arts, walked away with the Gold award in the micro category. She conducts these classes for young unemployed women and the underprivileged both at her home and at Welikada prison and has helped to create many entrepreneurs.

Darma Samaranayake, Chairman and Managing Director of Peragama Guild children, women and environment development programme and Sarada Publications won the gold award in the small category. The gold award for the medium category was won by Janaki Kathriarachchi of Three Star Farms.

Thushara Canagarathne, founding member and Managing Director of Virtusa Pvt Ltd was the winner of the gold medal of the large category.

Ms Canagarathne was also honoured with the prestigious woman entrepreneur of the year award as well. The Most Innovative Enterprise award went to the proprietor of Elephant Corridor, the first luxury designer lifestyle hotel in Sri Lanka Sussan Fillipin. As chairperson of the women’s chamber of Industry and commerce Ms Rezani Aziz noted at the ceremony that the event was truly a celebration of women’s contribution to the economy. She said that today women entrepreneurs have many roles to fulfill in combating the challenges of the future, the role of building families, the role of building businesses and that of building peace.

Another interesting feature at the ceremony was the display of stalls of the Tsunami affected businesses and the fashion show by Madri Jayasekara created using the fabric of the Maruthumunai Women Weavers Association, a Tsunami Back to Business programme project.