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Sunday, 25 April 2010

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Inspiring youth to join Jaffna

Dr. Arosha Fernando might have five degrees under his belt but that hasn’t stopped him from looking like a college freshman. Brimming with vigour and enthusiasm, Arosha is the CEO of a leading Sri Lanka conglomerate in the field of telecommunications.

Last year, he graduated with a doctorate in business administration making it his fifth Australian university degree. Previously, he has already received one Bachelors degree and three Masters degrees in the fields of marketing, human resources management, project management and telecommunication engineering in the last 16 years. Dr. Arosha’s career has shone ever since he started his prominent career working at a leading telecommunications company in Australia as a fresh graduate in year 1994.

Thereafter, he has moved up the corporate rung by holding distinguished positions like an Account Manager for the New Zealand market, Deputy Project Manager, Project Manager, and finally Senior Project Manager for a renowned GSM Project in Australia. Upon joining his present company, Dr. Arosha expanded their global network to become the market leader in telecommunication infrastructure development particularly in GSM and CDMA technologies more recently.

He spoke to the Sunday Observer magazine about how our youth can make a difference by joining together with our Jaffna brothers and sisters to uplift the nation technologically. He said, “I was part of the hardworking team to bring new technologies such as CDMA and 3G first time to Sri Lanka. We even managed to launch 3G in Jaffna even before peace under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.”

Highlighting about changing people’s attitude, he started becoming friends with the people of Jaffna. He said, “Even though the ethnic conflict has hampered proper technological development in Jaffna, we always maintain a good rapport with the people telling that it’s more for their benefit than our corporate achievement.” He further added, “We make them understand that by protecting their communications network, they can link with not only the rest of Sri Lanka but the world as well.” Hence, with this mind-set, Arosha’s company set about to install a number of telecom towers in Jaffna for a leading mobile communications provider.

This ensured that a majority of the telecom coverage of Jaffna was secured. This was followed by commencing work in Mannar, Kilinochchi and other key locations in the Northern Province for a number of telecommunication operators too. “We overcame many obstacles to ensure that we delivered solutions way ahead of deadlines,” he said.

He added, “We’ve seen changes with the conflict where there were hartals and union strikes but we are glad to say that being an equal-opportunity and satisfying employer, our workers always came to work!” Arosha said that the armed forces have also been instrumental in providing them with mobility and access plus the government officials have also been accommodating.

Today, the youth can enjoy unlimited internet services in the way of GPRS, internet browsing and a whole host of connectivity that would help them make friends with youth in other parts of the island.

Arosha, who likes to indulge in swimming when not working, said that they try as much as possible to recruit capable individuals preferably from the Northern Province with a few exemptions. “In fact, when we were having interviews for budding engineers, we met many youth residing in Colombo who hailed from Jaffna but fled during the war.

They are now keen to go back home and serve their hometown after the peace with their knowledge and skills, thereby inspiring others to follow suit,” he said. Arosha mentioned that such youth have been dedicated, committed and hardworking individuals who have been loyal to the company.

Besides being very focused and training his young team, Arosha has plenty of good to say about Jaffna. “As a Sri Lankan, I have been to Jaffna many times now and I am pleased to say that their hospitality is quite the best!” he noted. He added, “They place good trust in you once you make them understand and be their friend”.

Arosha sees great potential for Jaffna to prosper but only if our youth and younger generation see the importance of helping our people. Dr. Arosha Fernando is a fitting example of being an academic professional you should always come and give back to your country especially at a time when our nation’s development is taking place. Arosha said, “You should be honest to yourself and have a vision and a dream and the other ingredients will follow if you have these two”.

Arosha’s believes that one should give the fullest commitment to the duty and they should have the ability to take up challenges. “My advice is for our youth is to first go and see Jaffna without having a negative picture but open your heart and have your arms wide open to embrace our brothers and sisters in Jaffna” he mentioned.

He added, “We should realise that they are human beings too and by connecting and linking with them, we are not only forming friendships but ultimately joining with Jaffna to make our country peaceful and prosperous together!”

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