About

The author, the site, and how the ideas were checked

Dr Maheshika Halbeisen

Dr Maheshika Halbeisen was born in Sri Lanka and left at 20, the first in her family to go, on a flight she cried through from Colombo to London. She holds a PhD in chemistry and an Executive MBA with distinction, both from the University of Hull, and has spent 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, from the laboratory to leading global partnerships with some of the world's largest drug companies. She has lived in Britain for 23 years, is British by choice, and married into Switzerland. She is the author of The Job Well Done, on the leadership of Queen Elizabeth II, a Business Book Awards finalist, and the founder of Shika Group. Her dream is to see Sri Lanka House, the subject of the last chapter, built in Colombo; to see Ceylon brands known all over the world; and to see Sri Lanka become one of the most talked-about and most visited countries on earth. She would be happy if this book became a small stepping stone for someone, somewhere in a village in Sri Lanka, to take that first step. More at maheshika.com.

What this site is

The appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? lists 500 things one person, one family or one small firm could start without waiting for anybody. This website turns that list into something you can act on: every idea as a page, with the mechanism, a first step, a printable Starter Kit, and a way to say you are starting it. The Idea Finder picks ten for you. The book stops at 500 and says the next five hundred are the country's to write, so the site takes submissions.

What is the book's, and what was written for the site

The 500 ideas, the 28 cluster mechanisms, the 10 hubs, the six "who starts which" paths, the four rules and the one test are the book's own text, reproduced word for word. Every figure on the home page, in the Counter and in the comparisons is the book's, with the number of the document behind it; the evidence library lists all of them.

Three things were written for this site and are not the book's: the "first step", "who pays first" and "what leaves today" lines on each idea page; the Starter Kits; and the Idea Finder's ranking. They were written under three rules: nothing is stated as a fact unless the book states it, no company or person is named, and every public body a kit names is one that exists, with the kit saying what to ask it rather than what its rules are. The Finder's weights (how much money and time each cluster usually needs, and which hubs are nearest each province) are the editor's judgement. Treat all three as a starting point, and if you know better, say so.

"Who is already doing it" shows the first name and town of people who have put their name to an idea and asked to be listed. Each is checked by the author before it appears. "I'm starting this" is a plain count: one click, no name.

Pictures

The cover, the banners and most pictures on this site were created with the help of AI, from the author's own concepts, and are marked as such where they appear. Sri Lanka House is shown as it might look; it is not built. The photograph of the Matterhorn water bottle is the author's own.

Updates and corrections

Last built 2026-10-02. The book's time-sensitive figures were current to the autumn of 2026. Corrections go to maheshika@maheshika.com; a claim that fails a check is removed from the site and from the next edition.

Also by Shika Group

maheshika.com, the author's site. The Job Well Done, the first book. shika.group, the whole portfolio.