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Tuesday, 5 October 2010 23:46 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
At a time when women entrepreneurs are scarce for boosting the island’s development programme ,
G. A. Deepika Priyadarshani, the owner and manager of the Suriyawewa Nenasala, has set an example and made her district proud.
Deepika was adjudged the ‘Best Entrepreneur of 2009’ in the Services Sector in the Hambantota District by the Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce recently.
The selection was based on a stringent jury process by a panel of experts, Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) Information Infrastructure Project Manager, S. Gavashkar said.
One of the 601 Nenasalas currently spread throughout the island under a the concept of President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a major means to take ICT to the village, Deepika’s Suriyawewa Nenasala is located near the Suriyawewa market in the Hambantota District.
Deepika said that she obtained valuable support in making her Suriyawewa Nenasala reach the current standard of quality service to the people. “I thank and invoke merits on all staff of ICTA who helped me reach this standard. They were a great source of strength to me,” Deepika said, and mentioned a list of names whose assistance she cherished.
Nenasalas set up islandwide including in the north and east under the 1,000 Nenasala programme are tele-centres with a difference. What would have remained a prerogative of the urban elite underwent this difference due to the foresight of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who set the turning point by advising that these ‘wisdom outlets’ be set up in the milieu of the people where they gather for socio-cultural purposes, the temple, kovil, mosque and the church premises.
Deepika said that her Nenasala made it possible for anyone in the area to avail himself or herself of nearly all the services that any computer owner in Sri Lanka with internet connectivity is capable of. She expressed the hope that soon it might become possible for people with motor vehicles registered outside the Western Province too to get their revenue licences by operating from Nenasalas like hers at Suriyawewa.
She said that the potentialities from a Nenasala were almost unlimited. She was aware that these could include a person conversant only with Sinhala or Tamil contacting a person in a foreign land. Finding out the market price of agricultural produce, coming to know of local and world news, doing self-study of G.C.E. Advanced Level subjects, studying English, studying home gardening or following a computer course, she said, were some of the more common benefits of the Nenasala currently.
Coming to know in which area, at which time, which kind of fish are likely to be available to be netted, and obtaining medical consultation and studying a variety of subjects are some of the facilities not being properly tapped yet. But the possibility for this is there in her Nenasala as well, Deepika concluded.
