Dhammika Perera
Kulappu Arachchige Don Dhammika Perera, commonly known as Dhammika Perera (born December 28, 1967), is a Sri Lankan entrepreneur, business magnate, philanthropist, and Chairman/Managing Director of Vallibel One PLC. He is considered to be a successful investor gaining him the reputation as one of the wealthiest people in Sri Lanka. Perera is known as an icon of expertise in corporate re-engineering and revival owing to his uncanny ability to choose his investment portfolio across sectors. He owns nearly 23 companies and is regarded as a pioneer of Sri Lankan economic growth after the end of Sri Lankan Civil War. He is also known for frequently addressing the required policy framework for the country.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 2 Career
- 3 Controversies
- 4 See also
- 5 References
Biography
Perera was born in 1967 at a private hospital in Katukurunda Nursing Home in Payagala.
He began business venture in 1986 at the age of 19 after completing his primary and secondary Education at Taxila Central College, Horana. His childhood interests in electronics and electrical items made him pursue graduation in the field at the University of Moratuwa, Katubedda, although he dropped out to follow his business interests.
Career
Perera enrolled in the National Diploma in Technology (NDT) program at the Ins*ute of Technology, University of Moratuwa during the time of civil war before dropping out later to carry out his business ventures. He moved to Taiwan to follow his career in technical training for six months. However, he returned from Taiwan after three months due to his lack of technical skills.
Perera started a machine manufacturing business in 1987 close to his residence in Payagala and continued the business until 1991. He then had to move into car sales centre in Paiyagala following a ban imposed on jackpot and other machinery business by then President Ranasinghe Premadasa.
He also ran *o Electronics, an electronic shop repairing electronic circuit boards in Colpetty. He then started his own casino business in 1993 in Isurugiri. He started a business producing and selling neon bulbs in 1995, at a time when none of the manufacturers was keen on selling those bulbs. He met then International Monetary Fund resident representative in Sri Lanka Nadeem Ul Haque in 1998 and developed strong bonds.
He ventured into large scale businesses and decided to purchase and take over the ownership of Royal Ceramics in 1992 at the time when the company was making losses. He became its owner in 2000. He purchased the Pan Asia Bank in 2002 at a time when the bank was regarded as a loss making financial ins*ution. He partnered with popular investor Nimal Perera after acquiring the Pan Asia Bank in 2002 and the duo became arguably the most successful pioneers of the Sri Lankan economy after the civil war. He has been the executive director of Vallibel Finance since 2014.
In 2013, Perera became Sri Lanka's wealthiest individual, with a net worth of LKR 72.6 billion (approx. $550 million).
He holds a major stake in major financial ins*utions such as Vallibel Finance, Vallibel Power Erathna, The Fortress Resorts, The Queensbury Leisure Ltd and Delmege Limited. He is the current Co-Chairman of Hayleys, Royal Ceramics Lanka, Horana Plantations and L B Finance. He is a member of the board of directors of Amaya Leisure, Haycarb, Hayleys Fabric PLC, The Kingsbury, Dipped Products, and Lanka Floortiles.
Perera became the chairman of Lanka Tiles in 2017 and was appointed as the co-chairman of Singer (Sri Lanka) in October 2017 after Hayleys agreed to buy Singer. Perera was appointed as the chairman of Director Board of Lanka Ceramic PLC in 2017 but he resigned from the position on 31 August 2018. He was also appointed as chairman of Board of Directors of Lanka Walltiles in 2017.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Perera introduced a philanthropic initiative *led DP Education for the students to study online free of charge. He collaborated with the University of Moratuwa to offer a diploma to students aged 18 and above bundling maths, IT and English through DP Education platform.
Controversies
His background in running casinos in Colombo with exclusive license is said to be his cash cow for portfolio management of subsequent companies. He was appointed as Secretary, Ministry transport by Ra*aksa Government but apparently failed to make a positive contribution towards any improvement in Public Transportation. July 2019, Perera and his company Hayleys were accused of earning income through a garbage scam, which became a controversial issue after tonnes of garbage were imported and dumped into the country from UK.
Hayleys has since denied any wrongdoing in the matter and highlighted the fact that the Group's logistics arm was merely providing logistics services including storage, value addition and re-exportation for its client Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation for a resource recovery operation.
Calling for a press conference on 22 July 2019, the managing director of Hayleys Advantis Limited, Ruwan Waidyaratne, categorically denied the allegations levelled against the company in connection with importing garbage to Sri Lanka. In relation to 130 container loads of used mattresses that were stored at their Free Zone yard premises, the company clarified that the mattresses were imported by Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation (Pvt) Limited, the actual owner of the cargo.
In 2019, Perera was also rumoured to become the presidential candidate representing the United National Party for the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election. However, he refused the allegations and termed them as rumours.
See also
- List of Sri Lankan non-career Permanent Secretaries