Manoja Jayawardhane has bagged Difference Maker Award

Manoja Jayawardhane has bagged Difference Maker Award

• October 07, 2021

I am Manoja Jayawardhane, born in the Southern part of Sri Lanka , a beautiful Island in the Indian Ocean. 

I would like to say I am truly humbled and honoured by the award “Difference Maker Award” bagged by  “Women Icon powered by Times Women”.

I moved to the City of Colombo in 1981, to study at Visakha Vidyalaya, one of the best Girls’ schools in Sri Lanka.

I was selected to the University of Colombo for BSc Degree in 1988/89 but I gave up the degree due to the delays in commencing Universities in Sri Lanka due to the insurgency at the time. I started studying Accountancy in 1990 and joined a Manufacturing Company and then People’s Bank as a young school leaver in 1991. I started my career in Accounting in 1993. Having worked in many positions in Accounting and finally as a General Manager in an IT Company, I became a Director of Automated Barcode Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.(ABSL), in 2005.

I head ABSL, which is a total solution provider in the Automatic Identification Industry since 2004, from the inception first as the General Manager and then a Director/CEO , and has been among the very few women entrepreneurs in the field of STEM in Sri Lanka. I have worked with young IT and Engineering professionals , as well as young school leavers for the last 17 years. Throughout my career of more than 31 years , I have trained, mentored and developed personalities of hundreds of individuals in the field of accounting , IT and Engineering. 

Being a self taught in the field of IT, it was a lot of hard work I had to put in to learn new and emerging technologies, provide solutions and sustain in the field where the majority are males. Knowing what you talk and convincing what you know , in a high tech field was never easy. The environment has always been tough and competitive, where you have to compete with many giants in the field. Having started small  , today the Company has a large Clientele consisting of both Large to small scale , public and private sector organisations. Company maintains an unblemished image in the Industry and is moving forward in the right direction , even during the time where the Industry is suffering due to the global pandemic.

My passion is helping my own community and developing skills of children and youth of different walks of life. I have managed to provide employment to youths who were psychologically challenged, under privileged and with no formal education or experience in IT. I have helped them rehabilitate, develop personalities and become citizens who have immense potential and who can do a lot to the Industry and Society. Looking back, it gives me a lot of pleasure.

I have spearheaded many community projects with a group of friends and also individually to develop the resources and education of rural, underprivileged school children. My team has tremendously helped me to support our low income groups during the pandemic by providing support in various means. Needy people of any age group, or social status have been helped throughout the years with no hesitation and expecting nothing in return.

I have always fought and helped the fair play and ethical business in the IT sector in Sri Lanka wherever and whenever possible. My hobbies are writing , reading and travelling . I am also a proud Sri Lankan , which has more than 2600 years of history, a rich culture, language and a heritage.

I am a mother of a 25 year old daughter, and have gone through a lot of hardships in life . Today , I look back and celebrate the “Woman” in me with pride and look forward to helping more and more children and women in rural villages of Sri Lanka. My goal is to inspire more and more people to do their bit to the world and reach ultimate solace as a true Buddhist.

If you ask me what is ‘Success' , I would say “Happiness” and yes, I am a happy woman.