Kanrich Finance appoints former UN director as its new chairman

As part of a comprehensive restructuring, Dr. Ravi Ratnayake, a former Chief Economist and Director of Trade and Investment of United Nations for Asia-Pacific Region (ESCAP), has been appointed as the Chairman / Director of Kanrich Finance Ltd.

This is the first time in the history of the financial sector in Sri Lanka, a senior and experienced former UN official has joined as the head of a financial company.  Dr. Ratnayake is a renowned international economist with over 35 years of experience in international trade, investment, and business. 

He was an economic advisor to many developing countries including Sri Lanka. He was a consultant to the World Bank, United Nations, ADB, USAID, and a Professor/Senior Lecturer in Economics, Korea University, and the University of Auckland. He authored many publications in economics. He was also a Director at the Ministry of Finance, Sri Lanka.

Dr. Ratnayake brings wonderful experience and international exposure to Kanrich in enhancing its efforts to revive the company as a respectable and profitable finance company. Given his UN background, he is expected to turn Kanrich into a company with improved governance and also to be a socially responsible business entity, contributing to achievements of Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations, including through CSR projects. 

“Under Dr. Ratnayake’s leadership and a new Board of Directors, we started a new journey with a new business strategy towards stability, profitability, and sustainable growth,” said Kanrich CEO Shiran Weerasinghe.  

He added, “We are sure that we can successfully come out of the Covid crisis and bring back past glory that we enjoyed before.” The other new directors are Chartered Accountant Buddhika Senanayake and Fellow Chartered Marketer Eranda Godage.