The late Chairman Deshamanya H. K. Dharmadasa has started life in pre-war Colombo having run away from home to find greener pastures. Hailing from a Southern hamlet close to Matara he had spent his childhood days working for a distant relative in a simple eating house.

Grabbing the business opportunities in the post war era he had graduated to become a small time entrepreneur in no time as most people in Colombo had run away from the city due to war fear. His vision and courage coupled with his public relations skills and risk taking qualities that were inborn led him from success to success in whatever venture he went into.

It is surprising how a man with just the literacy to read a little Sinhala and to write some Sinhala characters and with no English to start with, came to be the owner of a business empire later to be styled as the Nawaloka Group of Companies. From a simple boutique hotel named Nawaloka Hotel, he expanded his business world to trading, building construction, manufacturing, import/export, health care and many other related activities.

His relationships with politicians of whichever the government that was in power coupled with his public relations skills gave him the courage to move swiftly in any circle of people whether professional, political, high public officials, Diplomats or religious dignitaries irrespective of any language barriers.

Although a Buddhist by birth, and very devoted Buddhist at that, when it came to helping an individual or an institution, there was never a difference for one from the other so much so that Nawaloka became a brand name for philanthropy.

He has left a large Business empire to the next generation and The Present Chairman of Nawaloka Holdings with his children in business along with him are forging ahead building on the foundations and surpassing the boundaries where he had stopped.