Three chartered accountants stand out at CA Sri Lanka awards

Mega Heaters Group Chairman and Managing Director Upali Jayasekara receives CA Sri Lanka’s Best Entrepreneur for the year 2022

Ceylon Biscuits Limited General Manager Finance Daham Gunasena receives Best CFO award 

NSBM Green University Head of Finance Randi Kailashinie Thiranagama receives Rising CFO award

Three of Sri Lanka’s trailblazing chartered accountants walked away with the Best Entrepreneur, Best CFO and Rising CFO awards, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) for transcending businesses to the next level and effectively contributing to both society and country.  

Mega Heaters Group Chairman and Managing Director Upali Jayasekara was declared CA Sri Lanka’s Best Entrepreneur for the year 2022, while Ceylon Biscuits Limited General Manager Finance Daham Gunasena was adjudged CA Sri Lanka’s Best CFO and NSBM Green University Head of Finance Randi Kailashinie Thiranagama was named as Rising CFO.

The three outstanding members of CA Sri Lanka were presented with the awards following a stringent evaluation process. In addition to having the foresight to charter new territories, with their leadership and strategic capabilities and the tenacity to push past accepted norms, they were recognised for their critical contributions to the business landscape, which helped them take the business to the next level, resulting in a positive impact on both society and country. 

The awards were presented by CA Sri Lanka President Sanjaya Bandara, in the presence of Vice President Heshana Kuruppu and Chief Executive Officer Dulani Fernando. 

Bandara said that CA Sri Lanka has produced and continues to produce exceptional chartered accountants, who have moved away from the traditional number-crunching roles to take on leadership and strategic positions, apart from being identified as the brains behind many successful corporates.

“Our chartered accountants don’t limit themselves to only steering the corporate world; many of them have also gone on to set up businesses or continue their family legacy and convert small and medium businesses into successful business empires,” he said.   

Jayasekara was adjudged as Best Entrepreneur for being instrumental in turning around his family-owned business from a dying enterprise into a market leader, with four state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. Today, the business has branched out, diversifying into manufacturing, restaurants, hotels and accommodation, real estate and information technology. The primary criteria for judging the best entrepreneur were based on the contribution to the economy, volume of the enterprise, recorded growth and future growth plans.   Gunasena was awarded Best CFO for his contribution both to the corporate world as well as the profession and society. He is a senior c-suite executive with over 20 years of experience in finance and supply chain and has a proven track record of successfully delivering outstanding commercial results to leading Sri Lankan and multinational organisations. 

Thiranagama was adjudged Rising CFO for her contribution to the organisation in terms of innovation, strategy deployment and new product development. She has been an important pillar in contributing to the success of NSBM Green University, due to ensuring the smooth financing of the project apart from being a member of the top management, where she contributes to the corporate and strategic leadership of the university. In its standing as the vanguard in developing the accounting profession, CA Sri Lanka has produced over 3,400 chief financial officers to date.