Daily NEWS Srilanka

In order to find out some information about the businessman called Lasantha Wickremasingha who created much sensational news in the internet during the past few days by identifying himself as the owner of several Hammer Audi Benz vehicles, we went to his place of residence in Kandy and met him.

Having failed advanced level one after the other twice he was not to lose hope in life and with sheer

Lasantha who was the eldest in a family of 2 children has had his education in about 7 schools and it was at Kandy Dharmaraja College that he has his higher education. 15 years before this he sits for his advanced level in Maths in which he fails. He then sits for it the second time. However, this time too he fails. Lasantha who fails on both shyes then sits for a Management examination and just manages to secure employment in a government department. Though he draws no good salary from it, he was not to give up his hopes. Whenever he finds a free time he used to do various things from the computer.

Lasantha who displayed a devotion towards the computer even from his schooldays showed an interest in speculation of money from 2002 across the internet and tries to make an income from graphic activities of the establishment known as Google Company Adsense and Fiver Company which incidentally was not that popular at that time among the public of Sri Lanka. A line of activity or subject of business name development for internet search machine was something for which he had a knack. Though it was not possible to earn even Rs. 5,000 a month initially, he was able to gradually increase that income and to raise it to a monthly figure of lakhs.

Though he thus earned an income from minor contracts in the internet at the beginning, he had mentioned that with the aid of a friend in New Zealand he managed to secure technological work projects of that country and he says that it speedened up his earning process. Subsequently, he had been successful in securing similar offers from Europe including countries such as Germany.

By now he is the contributor for mobile phone apps, web creation activities and other technological services for foreign countries and has been able to develop his business activities ranging upto 3 branches and thus provide employment opportunities for a number of people.

This is what he says about the journey he has come thus far. "There were various talks about the vehicles that I use. It's true that I have many vehicles. I took them because of my desire. But what I use is the Benz, the Hammer and the Audi. Some of the details of reports published in the internet about me before this as someone who makes money from the internet are not true.

I did 2002 A/L in maths. The first time I failed ... and I did the second shy and failed again. I went for classes to try my hand at the third shy. We didn't have much money as such. My father worked at AG office. My mother is a nurse. When going for classes I found a small job in a government department. I am always interested in computer activities. It was when I was engaged in this job that I thought of earning a little more money through online money-making methods. I  at the start undertook to do small  graphic work on a freelance basis. Actually most people in this country didn't know much about earning money online. It was right at the beginning that I got down to work like this. It was not from what I learned from computer courses ... I tried out on my own. At the start there were problems ... some got banned. When I began to get money little by little ... I invested it on other things.

That's how I went ahead. After a short time I began to think exactly what the audience was and got involved in things they wanted and thus began to earn money. There may be about 1,500 websites that I had designed. When extra work began to come my way I joined with others to engage in the work. When time passed by I shared money with my accomplices and accepted such assignments. What I had been operating on a minor scale then began to expand because of a friend in New Zealand. He told that he would let me know of technical requirements of businesses there. Like that I got a lot of work coming my way. We were well paid. Like this, when work in various countries were accepted as projects and carried out by us, we understood that we were able to net a big income from this. What we SEO and for the apps we prepare had a big demand. We cut our own path to success!

If there is proper guidance from the State or other institution, many people who are equipped with technological knowledge can earn an income like this. At the moment a satisfactory number of individuals work for me. I have really good faithful foreign customers. The advice that I give is ... instead of dreaming about small, small things after registering with them, identify yourself with the best things that you are capable of doing and to market those. Some can write in English. Some others are good at graphic work while some others are good at developing websites. It is those who can handle these things in a better way and could do it in a special way who are most welcome. It's not difficult to make an effort to invite that ''welcome' as such. Just as I happened to create a different path when I couldn't climb up from advanced level ... if anybody has the effort to carve the path for himself or herself ... t won't be impossible".