Secretary, Hartley OBA, M.Sunthar (Secy Hartley Oba,) Vice Patron, K. Mathivanan President OBA S. Yogendranathen, Senator Ian.K. Karan, Vice President OBA D.R. Arumaynayagm , Chairman Global Trust, T. Ragunathen and Secretary A K. Neelakandan ( Secy Global Trust).

[March 13, 2011] The Hartley College OBA Colombo Branch, felicitated Senator Ian Kiru Karan at a tea meeting held at the Cinnamon Grand last Wednesday. Sri Lankan born Senator Ian K. Karan, who is Minister of Economic Affairs in Hamburg was born in Point Pedro. He worked as a clerk in a container firm in Basel, and became the Managing Director of Lyons Container / NIC Lease Ltd, Hamburg / Chicago. He founded his first company in 1977, earning the nickname 'Container King', in Hamburg. According to media reports, Karan's business is now worth over USD 400 million.

Senator Ian Kiru Karan had his early education at Hartley College. President of the Hartley OBA, S. Yogendranathen, a batch mate of Senator Kiru Karan and Head Prefect at that time, in his felicitation speech traced the schooling career of Kiru Karan, and quoted several interesting incidents, during their school days and presented him with a memento, to mark his visit

In his reply, Minister Kiru Karan thanked President Yogendranathen and his batch mates for organising the event and said his school career at Hartley was instrumental in making him what he is today. His life was full of ups and downs but he never gave up and his advice is that success and failures are next to each other and divided by a thin line. One must strive to achieve success with determination, he said.