Mr.Dhammika Kodippili

On the evening of 2012 March 19, a businessman named Mr. Dhammika Kodippili from Anuradhapura won the medal for Entrepreneur of the year in the North central province, so far this has been his greatest achievement of his business life. The journey that he took to get to this point was one filled with ups and down, hard work and dedication.

Born May 5^th 1966 for a small middle class family, he was the eldest of four children, two sisters and a brother, His father Amaradhasa Kodipppili at the time was a government accountant and his mother was manager at Lacksala Anuradhapura so from his earliest days though both of his parents are government workers luxury was something that they could not afford.

He first started school in St. Joseph’s Collage Anuradhapura; he studied there until grade five. Since he was a kid he has always been a natural in studies, so after passing grade five scholarships exam he moved to Central Collage Anuradhapura which was a more recognize school in the city at the time, and did both ordinary level and advanced level examination their Moving to this school was one of the most important moment in his life, because this where he got his basic education and most importantly this where he learnt to became the person who is he now.

He has always been a natural athlete when he was young; He did many extracurricular activities when he was in school, he played both Cricket, Football from under thirteen to under nineteen and he was the team captain in both teams, The experience, knowledge, ability to make important decisions and most importantly how to stand still before challenges that he got by leading these two teams helped a lot later in his life when he was working and when he was doing his business, because leading came so easy to him and he was good at it, he was so good  in fact he won three inter school championships in football and on championship in cricket. Beside from these he studied martial arts for many years and studying these helped and gave him the discipline to have good family life and to run a business.

After finishing advanced level in 1985 he had to hold his higher education for a while because at the time his father quit the job and got involve in JVP activities, so with only his mother working the amount she earned was not enough for support the entire family. Being the eldest son is a great responsibility. So he had to step out and take some of the responsibilities on his shoulder. Therefore he work to find money, he did various jobs hear and their for two years until in 1987 finally his father stopped working for the JVP, this gave him the opportunity to continue his studies so in 1987 he entered in to the Open University to study NCT .

He studied there for three more years, But after just three years he again had to say good bye to studies, this again because of his father, so he did jobs hear and their another two years and finally in 1989 he got his big break when he was introduce to a pharmaceutics trainee facility named MRD associate Nigambo by his brother in law. He trained their as a Medical Representative for another three years. At this same period he fell in love with a girl he have been known for many years Miss Easha Lokuliyana and married her in 1990. This was one of his defining moments in his life because this marriage gave him the strength to success and develops and stood with him supported him throughout his carrier.

In 1992 just after the birth of his first son he applied for a job as Medical Representative for a company name Gamma Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd, he wrote the CV by himself and didn’t even print it and applied. When they were calling for the interviews the Chairman of Gamma pharmaceutics late Gammini Hewamallika saw the hand written CV and called Mr. Dhammika Kodippili and asked why do you want this job and Mr. Dhammika said “I need this job to achieve my goal” and what is your goal asked Mr. Gammini Hewamallika and he said “one day I will start a business and I will successful as you.”. Mr. Gammini Hewamallika was so impressed by his answer and hired him, at the time only four employees were taken from the entire country and Mr. Dhammika Kodippili was one of them and he was the only outsider of the company because at all the other sales representatives were from or around Colombo.

As he was from Anuradhapura he was given the Anuradhapura District to work. So he worked heard and gave his full attention to work and sometimes put his family life behind. His dedication paid off, Gamma reached heights of sales that they have never reached before, so just after two years of working as a sales representative in 1994 Mr. Gammini Hewamallika the chairman of Gamma Pharmaceuticals personally appointed him as distributor for Gamma Pharmaceuticals in Anuradhapura District.

This was the break he was looking for years, so started working as a distributor with just one vehicle, one agency and one employee, and in 1995 just after one year as a distributor he quit his job in Gamma Pharmaceuticals and moved to a new place in Anuradhapura city to start a business of his own naming “Shan Pharma” named after his sons first name with another three employees and a new lorry.

In 2003, Shan Phama takes another step further and changes in to a private limited company and change the name into Shan Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd. This was only one step for being success to Mr. Dammika Kodippili. With that experience and the knowledge gathered he thought to expand the business. 11^th August 2011 turn of an event took placed. With the help of two partners Phamatec (Pvt) Ltd was born in Nawala, Colombo. It was a major victory in his successful business carrier.

At that moment Shan Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd earn most of success after its establishment. It was the sole distributer in Anuradhapura District, Vanni District, Polonnaruwa District and Trincomalee District for more than 21 distribution agencies. Among these agencies, some of them are high ranked agencies such as Gamma Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd, Interphama (Pvt) Ltd, Glaxo Welcome Ceylon (Pvt) Ltd, City Health Imports (Pvt) Ltd and Akbar Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd and many more. Hunger for success and correct decisions help Mr. Kodippili to come this far and beyond it.

After the establishment of Phamatec (Pvt) Ltd, it also is touching its success as well as Shan Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd. It was a country agent for more than 10 Pharmaceutical companies internationally. Belco Phama India, Adhithya International India, Well Fair Medical United Kingdom and Endurance Pharmaceuticals India are some of them.

At the very beginning of his carrier Mr. Dammika had only one vehicle and one employee. In the present he expands it in to more than 20 vehicles and being an employer for more than 40 employees. Ability of hard working and the dedication helped him to being this success in his business carrier.

October 6^th 2008 was a day Mr. Dammika Kodippili never forgets in his entire life. On that day he was invited for a meeting organized by United National Party for welcome their candidate for chief minister post of North Central Province Major General Janaka Perera. It was held near the United National Party Office near the old bus stand in Anuradhapura. Many honorable people in Anuradhapura district are invited in to this occasion as well as Mr. Kodippili himself. But he was forgotten the date and time of the occasion and could not participate for the event. And it was a miracle forgotten for him as well as the family. Because there was bomb explosion took place and more than 25 people died including Major General Janaka Perera. And also more than 90 people were injured. It was a miracle escape from death for Mr. Dammika Kodippili and if he participates for this event he will seated in the front rows where bomb explosion took place. If he participate on that day one of the talented and valied personality arise from North Central Province will be loss to the nation.

When a man want to being successful in his carrier even have to face many challenges, which man wants to be courage’s on his way to being success. Mr. Dammika Kodippili is a man with that courage. So if man with such courage and being successful in his carrier he must be awarded for being such enthusiastic person. So in 2012 Mr. Dammika Kodippili won the award of “Entrepreneur of the year in North Central province”. This was the greatest achievement he won in his entire carrier since he started his carrier. And also he won the award of “Distributer of the year” from many companies such as Gamma Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Ltd, Glaxo Welcome Ceylon (Pvt) Ltd and City Health Imports (Pvt) Ltd in many occasions.

Being a member of Director Board of Chamber Of Commerce Anuradhapura and Trade Union of Anuradhapura are among the achievements reached by Mr. Dammika Kodippili in his Life.

At this moment this great man accomplished most of his carrier goals. His future targets are being one of the richest business men in the country and one of the best in the world. With that attitude and correct decisions will lead him to that goal soon or later in his carrier.

With being such a person who wants to face challenges Mr. Dammika is now considering his moves in to tourism industry. It will be a major challenge for him because it is entirely different field for him. But he says that “it wouldn’t matter if we take right decision in right time”.

Mr. Dammika has always lived his life according to a code which “You don’t forget the people who helped you at the beginning” so he has always shown his gratitude towards the people who helped him at the very beginning his mother, his father, his brother in law, his wife, and most importantly Mr. Gammini Hewamallika and the entire Gamma Pharmaceuticals.

Both his father Mr. Amaradhasa Kodipppili and Mr. Gammini Hewamallika whom he consider as his god father the person who helped him and taught him everything about business, were people who did anything to help others and Mr. Dammika also wanted follow them and show them how he have grown over the years but unfortunately both of them died before seeing Mr. Dhammika Kodippili succeed, so now he have given scholarship’s, build houses to people around  Anuradhapura and has given various donations to people whom are less fortunate in the memory of his father and his godfather.

Mr. Dammika Kodippili is a wonderful person with great qualities which must have in a person who has a target to achieve in any cost. Taking quick decision in the right time made his carrier more successful and solid.

I was expecting someone with pride about himself a person who will not care for others that much, but the person was totally different than my expectations .a humble person who welcomed us with so much caring and a loved tone. May be it is another reason that he came on top of his carrier though he doesn’t know,

He had lovely words to explain things. We were curious to know the secret recipe that he had, which enabled him to achieve all his targets. What he said keeps echoing in my head from that moment to now

         “Son it is not about the outcome, it is about whether you give your fullest to it”

No matter what others say or what others will do in order to drag you down, you just have to push yourself, trashing everything that come across to you, if you cannot trash it just choose a different path that will come lead to the same destination!
“Never give up cause once you give up on something, a day will come where you find yourself regretting that you just let it go when you should have tried a bit harder”

He said life is too short for things to let go, once you come up with a chance ,no matter how big or small it is, you just have to take the maximum out of it cause you will never ever know whether you have a second chance or not,

He is a very humble man that is what I felt. And his words made me sure that he is; he kept repeating these words to us

“Treat everyone kindly cause each and every person that comes to your life will teach you a lesson, may be you will get it or not but they will”

It’s true that I have things that I did not have before, I can still remember the days where we had nothing, so how can I ignore the people who have a little when compared to others. There was this specialty that I saw in him, he never called someone poor. I asked him why it is sir and his reply was “one day you will get to know that every one, each and every single one is rich in somewhere, may be they do not have physical wealth but they may be miles above us spiritually, so how can we call the poor? “

I was stunned, he just looked at me smiled and again said one day you will understand what I said , because there was a time where I did not understand this when my father said this to me, I had the same look , I can still remember that he said.

Life is nothing but a collection of experiences he said. At first you may not what to do. But when you start collecting your most valuable asset, experience, you will have the precision you need, you will see your target blurring the rest, making you know what exactly to be done. That is experience something you cannot buy.

He kept emphasizing the need of experience, he said it was a major advantage that he worked as a medical representative, and Experiences that he gained from his medical representative career had paved him the way and has been one of his advantages to succeed in this career he said.

It was around 4.30 when a lady wearing a sari entered the premises where our discussion was being carried. She had a very kind big smile where she looked so pretty.it was Mrs. Kodippili. There was not any hesitation. In front of us he held her hand and said, it is true they say that behind every successful man there is women, my women is my beloved wife he said.

No matter who you are or what you have there will be ups as well as downs, when it is downfalls only someone special will be with you to stretch his hands to hold ours to stop us from falling, it was my wife who always held my hands whether it was ups or downs, she is the one of the bests things that I had in my life! We were fascinated by the way he talked to his wife; it was more like a thing that they have being longing to have from their previous births.

Then we saw someone old entering the premises, Mr. Kodippili got up and went to him rather than waiting him to come and held his hand and helped him the way and offered him a seat a bit far from the place where we were and ask Mrs. Kodippili to offer him some food and waited him to finish his food and gave some money! A generous man he is .when he got back to us said “no matter what you have or how much of it you have, at the end of the day you will not a carry a single bit of, only the good that you did will remain in people mind and that is what you have really earned at the end of the day. He is Buddhist, may be it was the main reason for him to be so, when he showed his bed room there was a rack which was full of religious books as well other books also, on the top of the shelf there was a sticker saying reading makes you perfect!

Looking at that stuff he said, I learnt a lot by reading and still I am, it truly makes you perfect he said.

And the last advice that he gave to us was, “always be ethical, do not ever lose your humanity, which is what makes you different from the animals, be someone who he is useful for others also not just for you, never forget where you came from and always remember the ones who helped you to win your life. Especially the ones that tied to drag you down because if it was not for the you would not have come this far”

He laughed and said “haters are the best motivators”

Those words kept echoing and echoing and still it is!

A person whom we could learn a lot, he was.

He is a man who had everything yet not tied by anything. A simple man who taught me the most expensive and valuable lessons in my life a person that lived while living.

And the words that he said will never ever wash away from my head, those will always be there to lift me up when I am down, to keep me going in thick and thin.

Never ever give up your dreams, always chase what you dream of, dream your dream when you are not dreaming and keep pushing, never give up on anything, and ones you make that dream a reality, that’s where you will feel like living”

A lot to learn from a man who had nothing and has everything!