Sunday Times 2

November 26 was a much anticipated day for Charitha Bandara and Fahad Farook. For these two young men it was the first of a series of programmes being launched to help people better all aspects of their life.

Their already sold-out-show “Take Control of Life” literally describes the agenda for their programme. Focusing on the personal, work and social spheres of living “Take Control of Life” offered its audience an opportunity to make a positive difference. No sit-down affair,

Charitha Bandara

the duo went on to explain their reasons for formulating a unique agenda to help their audiences make a positive change by the end of the two hour session.

Corporate trainers by profession both Charitha and Fahad met at their workplace. Charitha is a licensed Neuro Linguistic Practitioner (certified by Dr. Richard Bandler) with more than 14 years of experience in the field of corporate training. Having always had an interest in this area of work he pursued his dream in 1999. Charitha holds an MBA from Cardiff Metropolitan University (UK) and is also qualified in Human Resource Management. He has conducted countless training programmes for several companies, banks and university students. Fahad is also a motivational speaker and corporate trainer who has coached over 4000 employees for organizations such as MAS, Brandix,Unilever and DIMO to name a few.

The idea to venture into this project came out of the blue for Fahad and Charitha and was the result of a casual conversation between the friends. “I’ve always considered myself to be a happy go lucky person” admits Fahad recounting a casual chat the two were having. The conversation led up to what they wanted to do with their lives and what their goals were. Thus was the inception of their novel idea- “Take control of Life”. “I’ve always liked helping people and changing their paradigms,” explained Fahad, a natural people’s person. “Charitha is someone with a clear plan,” he added which is what balances their partnership and makes it work.

Charitha is an ardent follower of the concept of brain technology; which deals with the latest findings in neuroscience. Having conducted research on HR corporates for the last three years he feels that Sri Lanka has great potential to move forward. Their vision

Fahad Farook at the launch of their initiative. Pix by Hasitha Kulasekera

as a team is to be the No.1 motivational brand in Asia hopefully in the near future. While there is a lot of scope and competition in their profession a distinct feature of Charitha and Fahad’s work ethic is that their projects are not driven by commercial and financial intentions.

The three part theme to their programme is Realization, Results and Recognition. Their agenda for the 26th, focused on peoples’ realisations where they were encouraged to hand in “power initiatives” which are issues that concern some aspect of their life which they can change for the better. Positivity and being proactive is what they want to project with their programmes. The power initiative will even be monitored with participants’ progress being checked as well. They will also be holding an awards ceremony next year and have introduced a ‘benefit card’ which holds deals at discounted prices. However it is necessary to have handed in your

A section of the audience

power initiative to be eligible for both. Another interesting feature is that even the examples and success stories they will be incorporating into the programme will be real, local stories. We want people to be able to relate to it,” Charitha explained.

Having received a lot of positive feedback as well as having the satisfaction of seeing the programme being sold out, the two hope to continue with a series of productive workshops in 2014. Their growing community of trainers and followers has inspired them to take their concept to newer heights. “We are hoping to extend our concept to the areas of life, sport and youth,” says Charitha. In a nutshell Charitha and Fahad are all about driving towards a bigger purpose in life, reaching out to people and helping them be the best they can.
Further information on Charitha and Fahad can be obtained from their website: http://www.takecontrol.lk/ and their facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/TakeControlOfLife