LONDON, ON -- London Web site whiz kid Keith
Peiris's agenda for the next two weeks reads like that of any
multi-media celebrity.
Everyone wants to know the 12 year
old's business since he was named the youngest participant ever in a
Team Canada trade mission to the Far East.
There have been calls from TV stations and
major publications such as Time and the New York Times. He has been
booked for an interview by CNN Asia and expects another request from
Chinese TV.
There's a meeting today with London's mayor and
city council and with the premier of Ontario on Wednesday.
Then Thursday, the young president and chief executive of
Cyberteks
Design flies out of Vancouver with business people, Canada's
10 premiers and trip leader Prime Minister Jean Chretien to Beijing,
Shanghai and Hong Kong.
He also can't forget the assignment
he has been given by his Grade 7 teacher at St. Bernadette Catholic
elementary school -- bring back photos of things in China that
aren't available in Canada.
"I also have to do a book
report," Peiris said.
Keith and his father, Deepal, are
ready for an international adventure that has put Keith in the
centre of a media swirl caught in the allure of a boy doing grown-up
things.
Keith won his spot on the trip through hard work and
creativity. He has won numerous awards and accolades for his Web
designs and his work with Flash, the latest Web technology. He
taught himself to use the software that creates moving images that
can be transmitted using narrow bandwidth.
His company
receives more than 100 e-mails a day and has about 25 customers,
mostly in the U.S. Other clients include Rogers Cable and Kewl
Threads, a company owned by Toronto Maple Leafs Shayne Corson and
Darcy Tucker.
Keith's father said they have five part-time
employees and seven sales offices in the United States and promises
15 more worldwide during the next two months.
One client,
Interep, a New York sales and marketing company with $1.4 billion US
in sales is picking up most of the tab -- about $30,000 -- to send
Keith and his dad to China.
