Her first salon was just a small room in her home with one cutting chair and an assistant. Word however soon got around and there was a steady stream of very satisfied clients and her salon moved into the garage and continued to grow from there. Ramani Fernando salons has over 15 locations and an academy in Sri Lanka and has franchise salons in Bangladesh and India.

Her staff is now in excess of 200, almost all trained by the academy and she believes in continuous training and being up to date in trends and fashion, which is the key to success in this business.

She started at the bottom sweeping and mopping floors like all trainees do, but never found the job boring watching the great hair artists at work and learning from them. After the initial training, she joined the Raymond’s Group in the UK, another leading group, as a Junior Stylist and after working for a while returned to Sri Lanka.

Her staff too is regularly sent on training courses in Sri Lanka and abroad. Ramani and her staff has received advanced training in some of the leading academies in the world such as Vidal Sassoon, Tony & Guy, Graham Webb, Rever, Ruby Hammer, Wella, L’Oreal, Keune and her staff continruw this tranning on a regular basis to stay abreast.

Ramani too has won many awards at the Asian Hairstyling and Make up Competition and in the last 40 years has been a senior judge in the Competition. She is now the Vice President of the Asian Hairdressers Association.

Her interest in the fields of Hair and Beauty has prompted an invitation from the Skills Development Authority to serve on the panel to set up standards for Hair and Beauty. In 2006 she was “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” In Sri Lanka.