Lokuvithana builds hotel in UAE

Shirajiv Sirimane

Most Sri Lankans overseas have forgotten that they are Sri Lankans and that tax payers' money was used to educate them and provide many handouts to their parents to take them to the position what they are in today.

While most of them are selfishly expanding and investing for their luxury and their second generation there are less than a handful of Sri Lankans who still think 'My country is Sri Lanka, what can I do to help my motherland?' One such person from Sri Lanka who has made a name overseas is Nandana Lokuvithana with Onyx Group in UAE Dubai, renowned manufacturer of steel and building-related products, has reinvested profits to build and open a 500-roomed hotel in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The hotel was built for one of the world's largest hotel chains, Marriott of USA which has more than 500 hotels in nearly 60 countries.

Unlike most Sri Lankans who are doing well, Nandana thinks differently. Born in Kotiyagala, Medawachchiya, he studied at the Anuradhapura Central College after first attending the village school.

Lokuwithana said, "Sri Lanka was our country and we must do our best for the country."

The usual thing an entrepreneur of this nature would do was to invest back on a profitable venture and earn foreign currency or have a partnership where his investment would have a return and risk minimised. Also, investing in Sri Lankan during the height of the battle against terrorism was like committing financial suicide.

The Gulf including Dubai in the late 1980s was considered a place where Sri Lankans were used for slavery due to Lankan women working as house maids

" I too was measured by this yard stick by my father and was told politely and firmly not to go.

But I saw a future for me in Dubai and did not change my plans. My father was so angry that he did not even come to the airport to say 'good bye'."