Orient Finance PLC, a member of the Janashakthi group, announced the appointment of Nalin Karunaratne as an Independent, Non-Executive Director to the company’s board of directors, with effect from December 21, 2021.

A Chartered Global Management Accountant of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), UK, Karunaratne is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK and CIMA, UK. He has also completed several executive education programmes at the prestigious IMD Business School, Switzerland, Harvard Business School, USA and Asian Institute of Management, the Philippines.

Karunaratne has had a long and illustrious career with several leadership roles at some of Sri Lanka’s preeminent local and multinational enterprises, including Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka (Private) Limited, Darley Butler, ICL, Lafarge Holcim (Lanka) Limited and Reckitt Benckiser (Lanka) Limited as well as Saudi Arabia’s Almarai Company Limited, the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy company.

He currently serves as Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ceylon Biscuits Limited and CBL Exports (Pvt.) Ltd, the members of the CBL group. The group is one of Sri Lanka’s largest FMCG conglomerates, engaged in both local sales and exports and home to leading Sri Lankan food brands like Munchee, Ritzbury, Samaposha, Lankasoy and more. He is actively involved in the management of the company’s overseas ventures, overlooking the operations of CBL West Africa (Ghana) Limited and Plenty Foods India LLP. 

Karunaratne also serves as a Director on the boards of Ceylon Biscuits Limited, CBL Exports (Pvt.) Limited, CBL Foods International (Pvt.) Limited and Ceylon Biscuits Bangladesh (Pvt.) Limited. 

Welcoming Karunaratne aboard the company, Orient Finance PLC Chairman Anil Tittawella said, “I am delighted to welcome Nalin to the board of Orient Finance. He joins us at a time when we have managed to register strong growth despite the challenging market conditions. Given his extensive experience across diverse sectors, with a particular strength in marketing, I am confident that he will be an invaluable addition to our team and help propel us to greater heights.”

“Staying true to the core values of its parent company, the Janashakthi group, Orient Finance has been delivering great value to its customers and all other stakeholders with great integrity and innovative solutions,” said Karunaratne. 

He further added, “Joining this enterprising team as they mark 40 years of sustained growth, I look forward to working with them on driving the company forward, as it continues its steady rise as a leading provider of unique financial solutions in the market.”