Dreams as colorful as LEDs

Dunhinda falls is the beautuy of Uva so the travelers say. I could be the only traveler he couldn’t see Dunhinda during my Badulla trip. But trust me, I have no regrets. I’ve seen amazing sites, I’ve met amazing people and I’ve witnessed amazing community work. So Dunhinda can wait till I visit again!

Badulla-Passara road is not the ideal road for a ride in the rain as the road has sharp hairpin curves, a mean declivity not to mention the slipperiness. But that’s the way I took nonetheless as I was heading to Polgaha Arawa, a small village off from Meegahakiula. But first I needed to see another interesting person, a young entrepreneur lady who started her own LED bulb production business at home and gained a huge success.

 “I learned to assemble LED bulbs from Vidatha center in Meegahakiula. I was the only woman for the entire batch. But I needed it. I and my husband was in a hard corner of life at that time as we both haven’t had any permanent jobs but we already had a kid together. So I wanted to do something that makes me at least hundred rupees. Usually women choose self-employments such as needlework or horticulture but I wanted to do something different. And I followed the one day course successfully. That’s how I started my LED bulb business.” Nirosha was recalling how she started the business.

“At first I bought components for two bulbs and assembled but it didn’t work. But I didn’t give up. I improvised, tried several times and finally managed to pull through one LED bulb successfully. That’s when I realized that I can do this. I even taught my husband to make LEDs after that.” I could see that she is proud of herself by her smile. She should be, so I thought.

“I bought components for bulbs with all my seed money and finished making bulbs but then I realized that I have to find a way to sell them. Nobody would come looking for my bulbs unless I give them a reason to. So I started home to home marketing. It wasn’t easy at first but I quickly realized that there’s a huge untapped market for LED bulbs. So I took a bank loan and expanded my production. I introduced a monthly payment system for village people -especially for more expensive bigger bulbs. And lately I initiated an agent program as well. I have people who act as my agents in other villages and they earn a commission through every LED bulb they sell. People like to buy my bulbs especially because I repair them if they are faulty. I never charge a rupee for that so people have a trust placed in my business. Now many people come looking for my LED bulbs.” She explained her business model. It was amazing how she developed a successful business through such business intuition. According to her she makes 200 LED bulbs per month as that’s her limit with her time and financials. But sooner she’ll have to expand her business as the demand is already skyrocketing as people realizing the efficiency of LED bulbs. But she’ll need more help for that as she says.

“I gave a project proposal for the Praja Mandala as well. There were other teams with other proposals we well but finally they chose me. Now they will help me to expand the business. Especially I need to build a workstation for the security reasons. All my kids are small and working with electricity when they are around is dangerous. Also there are many small parts in a LED bulb so an infant might swallow those. Because of those issues for most part of the production I work at night after kids go to sleep. But If I have a dedicated workstation, I can even increase the production. Let’s see, I have a good feeling about the future. Like my LEDs, my hopes are also bright!”

She really proved herself. Her next goal is introducing her own brand for the market. And since she is good with repairing LEDs, people from her village and neighbor villages will continue buying bulbs from her. And soon she will need to hire more helping hands as well.

I wished her good luck and raced against time towards Polgaha Arawa. Again it was mountain roads and rugged terrain and I wouldn’t bore you with same details again. But when I finally reach the village after a half an hour ride, it was already late. The dark was setting to cover the village but I managed to meet two young souls.

Have you ever seen a village shielded with thick canopy of flora and giant trees? Those giant trees covered with moss and thick creepers would certainly remind you the stories you’ve heard about dryads who live on such trees. You would walk under those trees with utmost respect.

“I’m Sampath and I’m the president of Polgaha Arawa Praja Mandala.” When he said that, I looked at him more closely. He is a young man and it was amazing to see a youth in such a position for the first time.

“When villagers came to our meetings, they realized that Praja Mandala is not just another village society. Now they have a great trust on us. We have a good bunch of youths with us and they have the good spirit.” Sampath explained to me.

As far as I’ve learned, they have done a number of Shramadana projects to develop the village and repaired the preschool building and the premises. Plus they want to boost the village economy by empowering the self-employments and agriculture based livelihood of his people. And they want to find the right market for those agree products. Big plans and bigger hopes but they are certainly achievable with the spirit they have.

Today I rode to meet people, not just sightseeing and it was a success. I saw how courageous people can be and how dedicated people can be. It warmed my heart.

I started heading back with the thick darkness blanketing the mountains.