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| Wednesday, 23 February 2005 |
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Rising with Rice to become a self-made man by Aditha Dissanayake Who among us was not brought up on rice, the staple diet of our country
since time immemorial? We eat it at least once everyday. We love its
aroma, its appearance, and we know it tastes best when we eat it with our
fingers. Rice is so much a part of our lives, a day without it for at
least one meal, seems unimaginable. No wonder then, that Ariyasiri Vithanage, Chairman of Trad Lanka Agricultural Enterprises, Anuradhapura, should see rice as something which deserves tremendous respect. Abhorring the careless way rice is treated by some of the other traders in the business, Ariyasiri assures that the rice he markets is free of stones and sand and comes with a leaflet instructing the housewives in the best ways to prepare it. (i.e. when cooking rice fresh from the mill less water should be used than the traditional amount). In more ways than one, stepping into the rice market for Ariyasiri, has been a way of returning to his roots. Born in the deep south and hailing from a family of farmers Ariyasiri is happy he is assisting the toilers of the soil who produce the quintessential food of our country in Anuradhapura, through Trad Lanka Agricultural (Pvt) Limited. The money he needed for this investment, however, came from elsewhere. After completing his education at the Prince of Wales MV, Ariyasiri gave up the opportunity of entering university to pursue a career in advertising. He recalls earning Rs. 125 a month as a Sinhala Copywriter. In 1969 he joined the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) as a guest announcer. "At first I was paid only Rs.5 for reading an advertisement on radio. Later, after gaining some recognition I made it a point not to work unless I was paid at least Rs. 25 per ad." By the end of the 70s he had created a niche for himself as a much sought after announcer in the entertainment world. Ariyasiri recalls the day, when, for the first time in Sri Lanka the performance of Visharada Amaradeva in Los Angeles was downloaded via the internet and broadcast live on the commercial service of the SLBC as one of the most memorable events in his career as an announcer. When he resigned from the SLBC to start his own advertising agency, Trad Lanka (Pvt) Limited, in 1988, Ariyasiri says he had practically nothing, "no money, no staff and no permanent office, but a mind which refused to give-up". With such an abundance of dogged determination, success came steadily. From a rented room in Mt. Lavinia the business was soon moved to the second floor of a building in Colombo 3. Ariyasiri still recalls the "saga of the Murunga tree" with a smile on his lips. Having no telephones at the new office Trad Lanka used the telephone of the house on the first floor. When a call came for them the residents of the house would pull a rope tied to the tree outside the window of the office. "We had to keep an eye on the tree all the time and rush downstairs the moment we saw it starting to shake". Today the chairman of four companies, with several prestigious awards to be proud of, which includes winning the gold at the SLIM awards in 1997, and working as a philanthropist in the Ariya community service projects in Matara, Ariyasiri says he is satisfied with everything he has achieved in life. "I always wanted to make a name for myself in our society. And today I think I have realised that dream." For more revealing details about the journey of this successful entrepreneur, who started life in a remote village in Matara as the son of a farmer, watch Situ Medura tonight at 9.05 on ITN. |
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