Question: Dear Sir,
I'm a 28 year old girl and have completed my BA degree. I have been teaching for the past few years, but now I hope to change my career path to start a business of my own. I have always wanted to do this but due to family pressure took up teaching. Since I do not know much about business I hope to do an MBA so that I'll be prepared to handle my business efficiently.

There are institutes which offer such degrees to those who have no knowledge of business but have a good 1st degree. I want to do a distance learning MBA since I need not have a prestigious MBA as my aim is not to work in a company but to start my own business and get some idea on how to run a business. I will also be going abroad soon so I think the distance learning mode will be more suited for me. Please tell me what you think about my idea. Do you think I should learn at a good institute or the distance mode? Are there any such good distance learning institutes I can contact? Please help me. Your valuable advice is eagerly looked forward to.
Shazla.

Answer: Dear Shazla,
Most people work hard at chasing after and building critical advantage in their chosen field, but somehow they may also miss out on the short term opportunities available to them . Your goal if you wish to be successful is to focus on three things:

4Try to build critical experience in your decided field of enterprise, or are you blurred about this, where this would help you to understand best practice and also benchmark standards for your own business?
4Yes the MBA is a good thing, but not a sure way to succeed in your business. However selecting the right one would help you to build some critical skill, the distance mode won't be a problem if it is a good one.

4Running your own business is not going to be tutti fruity, therefore you may want to plan your finances, your partner as well as what gap you are going to satisfy.
As a final thought you may need to get aggressive with your time since you have already lost pace, my advice to you is to set a five year goal to build your own business, where the first few years would be to gain that critical experience.
All the best.

Q: Dear Mr.M.Failan
My name is Dinesh and my ambition is to become an Astronaut. But I am 18 years old and still have not done my O/Ls to proceed further. I will be sitting my GCE London O/Ls in the Science stream in January 2010.

I have wasted two years in my life by shifting homes and schools; I should have done my O/Ls when I was sixteen. But even though I am attending a school now, I do self study to finish my syllabus earlier coz my class is doing its exam later. I study English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and ICT. So sir my question is:

"Is it possible for me to skip my A/Ls after I do my O/Ls and study in a college (for example: American National College Colombo or a college abroad) for a qualification in Engineering?

And also sir, in school I participate in many extra curricular activities ( I am the president of an Astronomy club, Deputy head prefect, editor of school magazine) which is slowing my studies. But I am still the best in class with an average of about 60-70. My teachers say that I should manage my time well when I ask them if I should retire. But to be honest I have lost my self discipline and motivation to study and reach my goal.

So what can I do now, I want to do well in my O/Ls, I want to finish my syllabus, reach my goal. .. . How can I gain my discipline and motivation back coz I know I did very much better about a year ago and now I find it difficult to stick to my books.

Hoping for a favourable reply.
Dinesh

A: Dear Dinesh
A: I would like to answer your question taking a new format of Do's and Don'ts
Do
Be patient: Sometimes doing the right thing does not mean that success would happen overnight.
Be ambitious: Your blend of passion and purpose is great, stay focused and you will win .Wait for your results and try to get great results, this hurdle is your most important.

Prioritize: We are all faced with the same problem try to reduce your extra curricular activities to the most important, you may want to give up the editor post and gain more time, for example I too was deputy head prefect, vice captain of the record breaking athletics team and president of the college society, but I prioritized after my final record breaking relay for college ,I gave up pursuing athletics and focused on my future.

Don't Forget the past: You win some and lose some, don't let the time delay bother. You may go to space later than your colleagues, the achievement and the experience is the key.
Settle for anything less: Getting the best O/L results and getting to be head prefect is important in the long run.

Dinesh
……Go on and be a winner

Q: Dear Sir
I'm currently a student who has finished my London Edexcel GCE A/L and awaiting the results. I have decided to take up accounting as my future career. After my A/Ls I wanted to do CIMA but unfortunately I had to move to Kuwait where I could not find an institute where they provide CIMA But I have managed to find an institute where they provided ACCA. If I follow the course it will cost me around 1,000,000 in Sri Lankan Rupees. If I manage to finish the course in two years can you let me know whether I can find a job in Sri Lanka? I want to know whether ACCA is as recognized as CIMA. I'd be grateful if you'd let me know the position since I have to apply for the course before January 18.

Confused student
Via Email

A: Dear Confused student
The recognition, status and acceptance are based on the specific job and most importantly the organization, but I feel you are spending way too much to acquire the qualification. You could get on to www.cimastudy.com and check for the online options as well as take the exam from Dubai. As far as ACCA is concerned the same option could be followed yet another option would be, to buy all the study material and gain local tutor guidance as well as attend the revision workshop, you would yet save some money, however this is a long shot.
All the best

Q:Dear Sir
I'm a bright student and I have done my A/Ls this year in the Bio stream but I lack confidence about my A/L results, so I wish to do A/Ls in 2010.
I like a career that combines with Science, otherwise I'm really interested in Fashion Designing and love to be a Fashion Designer in future.
Could you please tell me:

• Are there any highly payable jobs in Sri Lanka for Fashion Designers?
• What is the best Fashion designing course in Sri Lanka?
  
• What is the extra professional qualification that I should complete as a future Fashion Designer?
• I'd like to follow a Fashion designing course with my A/L studies, will it disturb my A/L studies?
• I'd like to do a job that combines with Science (such as Medicine) and also love to be a Fashion

esigner. What is the successful and the ideal path that I should choose?
There are so many private Degrees such as BA,CIMA, if I follow these courses what are the paths that I can take? Are these courses better than Fashion Designing?
Your early reply would be very much appreciated.
Depressed Student

A: Dear Depressed Student
First I see a lot of confusion and clutter in what you want, for example you want to re sit your A/L's, I don't see any logic in this unless you wish to qualify for university entrance, organizations want people who can contribute to their bottom line more than just looking at how qualified you are. You also want to explore science and fashion designing and are confused with what value CIMA would deliver. My advice to you is very simple, but first you need to do SWOT analysis for your self and see what you are good or weak in. The prioritization as to what career you would choose would depend on what you want to be. Please write to me after your results. Based on the option that you could concurrently do your A/Ls and also study to be a fashion designer, there are many fashion design institutes in the country, two of them are the Lanka Institute of Fashion Design and the Academy of Fashion Design. A simple web search would help you identify and pick the best. There are many options for study, Diploma, Advance diploma and BA Hons, ranging from one to three years and the cost ranging from rupees 200,000 to 400,000.As for job opportunities the industry job attractiveness is very high, you could be your own boss or work for any of the world class garment companies in Sri Lanka or overseas.

The rationale as to why you would do CIMA would be based on you having an objective of starting your own business or working for a reputed company and moving up the ladder to head a business unit. Your science knowledge would help you for example if you wish to explore an option of fashion research, let us say in fabric technology. What I am trying do is to show you the links between your decision, however, you need to be best at one to add on the others.
All the best, and write to me after
your results

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