Lohitharaja Nagalatshumi and Nilmini Cooray are more than just friends; they are business partners, lifelong companions, sisters. Their close childhood friendship was rent asunder in the early nineties by the war when Nilmini and her family had to flee the invading forces of the LTTE, making a daring escape across the sea. Decades later, when Nilmini decided to come back to her home town of Kalkudah, she found her loyal friend waiting.
Lohitharaja’s family has always had a business in tourism. Her little restaurant and guest house has welcomed visitors from all over the world for decades, many of whom come repeatedly. They are so loyal to her that they write to her regularly, evidenced by the reams of letters and photographs she has carefully kept over the years. Nilmini’s guest house is much newer, begun only 4 years ago. With the pandemic hitting both of them quite hard, they now depend on each other more than ever, sharing resources whenever they can.
When Lohitharaja heard about the INSPIRED program she signed Nilmini up right away. “I really wanted both of us to be in it together,” she says. The program has taught both of them many things. Nilmini and her husband (an ex-Army officer) learned to budget, maintain accounts and efficiently reinvest their profits. “The program really helped us organize the business” she asserts. Lohitharaja expanded her business after her husband passed away 13 years ago, and is no stranger to being an entrepreneur. Yet even at the age of 65 she is still looking for ways to improve her enterprise. Currently that involves carpeting the shop floor in linoleum, following the advice of one of her mentors in the program.
Ever resourceful, Lohitharaja has been weaving wicker baskets out of palm fibers during the slow months of the pandemic, learning how to make them in just six months. She supplies them to an exporter and earns a much needed supplementary income.