[1] The Upali Group diversified from confectionery to electronics, automobile manufacturing, publishing, print media, leisure, and aviation.

"[2] Wijewardene was presumed dead on 13 February 1983, when his private Learjet disappeared over the Straits of Malacca soon after leaving Malaysia en route to Colombo.

Wijewardene lost his father when he was eighteen months old, and was raised by his mother in the family home Sedawatte Walawwe in Kolonnawa.

Upali's paternal uncle, Don Richard Wijewardena, was a press baron, and his cousin J. R. Jayewardene became the second President of Sri Lanka, serving from 1978 to 1989.

[7][8] Wijewardene moved into a house on Thurstan Road, designed by Geoffrey Bawa, which included a helipad for his private helicopter.

[9] He held the position of Basnayake Nilame (chief lay custodian) at the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, a temple that had been supported by his family.

[4][5] On his return to Ceylon in 1959, Wijewardene joined the British manufacturing company Lever Brothers as a management trainee and was assigned the responsibility of overseeing soap processing.

[5] Wijewardene ventured into business by setting up a confectionary company and establishing a candy ball machine on his property on Bloemendaal Road.

[3][5] In 1970, after the passing of his maternal uncle, senator Sarath Chandradasa Wijesinghe, Wijewardene assumed control of the 'Ceylon Chocolates Company'.

He expanded the 'Kandos chocolates' brand from a domestic to an international market, and with the help of a friend, Ratnam, he cultivated 14,000 acres of cocoa in Malaysia.

[3] He started the Upali Electronic Company in the 1970s, introducing radios, calculators, wall clocks, air-conditioners and television sets.

The media initially described the magazine as "romance, booze, money, travel, dreams, adventure, and wild women," crammed into 16 pages.

In 1978, Wijewardene was appointed by President J. R. Jayewardene as the first director general of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (GCEC), which subsequently evolved into the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

[2] He set up an organization called 'Ruhunu Udanaya' and worked to create opportunities for young people in Kamburupitiya and the surrounding areas to learn English and computer technology.

[14] Rumours later circulated that Wijewardene was to have been named the minister of finance by president J. R. Jayewardene the next day, on his return to Colombo.