|
|
 |
| Sunday, 31 March 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
NU - a financial genius The death of the financial wizard, N.U. Jayawardena (94) cast a cloud over the financial and banking sectors of Sri Lanka. However, the saga that NU left behind, will long live on. Last week, local daily newspapers were agog with the focal points of his life. We spoke to those who were around him, his kith and kin. Born in 1908, to a not-too-affluent family, NU hailed from Hambantota, an arid part of the South. Life was always difficult in this hot, almost wasteland dependent on seasonal rain for agriculture. The agricultural fraternity of the South had to depend on the benevolence of the English master, to repair and build irrigation waterways. Needless to say, the British had no place for plantations in such dry lands. NU, born a genius, knew he had to work himself out of this desolate economic region, if he was to make a success for himself and his countrymen. That is why the clerical servant taught himself finance, to be the first Sri Lankan Governor of the Central Bank. His later exploits in the field of banking have already been recounted. It is said that as a young man, NU once had an alternative plan for his superior's method. His superior, an Englishman, had left it to their big boss, another Britisher, to decide on which method was best. The boss had chosen the method advocated by the young NU. The Britishers were pleased that there was a young Sri Lankan with vision, initiative and drive. The life and work of NU will long be a model and example to those who come after him. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
