Mr. Priyantha
Dematagoda
Hony. President
2021/2022
Mr. Priyantha Dematagoda is the General Manager/Chief Executive Officer of Sewa Community Credit Limited, is a Professional Banker with 23 years of Commercial Banking experience. He was a Faculty member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL), Center for Banking Studies CBSL, and also serves as Trainer in various disciplines in baking at many Private and Government Commercial Banks in Sri Lanka. He is also a Certified Trainer in Microfinance by Frankfurt School for Finance and Management. He holds a Masters Degree in Business Studies and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Colombo. He also holds a Diploma in Human Rights (Institute of Human Rights Sri Lanka). He has also undergone professional training at National University of Singapore (NUS), and with the Association for Development Financing in Asia and Pacific (ADFIAP) and University of Sri Jayawardhanapura. Mr. Dematagoda has previously served as LMFPA Treasurer during 2017/2018. and Vice President during 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.
Mr. Imran Nafeer is a Director of Muslim Aid Micro Credit Company and has experience and exposure both local and international level as a Microfinance consultant in various aspects including Social Performance Management, Research & Product Development, Islamic Microfinance and Micro Insurance. He is an accredited trainer of CGAP and Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. Recently he was awarded as a certified Social Auditor from CERISE France on behalf of LMFPA. He holds an Honours Degree in B. Com. (Marketing) Special from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. He obtained Post Graduate Qualifications in Marketing from Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and in International Relations from Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS). He also serves as a lecturer in the Microfinance Diploma course by the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL). Mr. Imran has served as LMFPA Secretary from 2011 to 2013 and from 2015 to 2016. He has also served as LMFPA president during 2017/2018.
Mr. Gnanasiri Abewardhana counts more than 20 years of experience in financial service sector having commenced his career at Central Finance in 1995 and afterwards serving at People Leasing where he setup their respective leasing divisions & branch network. Later on He joined Asset Line Company Ltd in 2005 as Assistant Manager to steer the financial service cluster of the David Pieris Motor Company. He was promoted as Regional manager until 2008. He monitored & covered Branch Administration, Marketing function (Leasing Hire purchase, loan) & Recovery function in the following areas: Jaffna Mannar,Vavniya, Anuradhapura, Puttalam, Trincomalee, Kurunegala, Polonnaruwa, Kuliyapitiya, Rathnapura & Matara.
Mr. Abeywardhana holds a Bsc Management Degree from University of Jayewardenepura. Currently he is the Vice President of Alumni Association of Public Administration Department in Sri Jayawardhanapura University and also an active Executive committee member in the Alumni Association of University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Currently he is working as General Manager and Chief Executive Officer in Dumbara Micro Credit since 2015.
Mr. Wasantha Gunawardhane is the Senior Manager of People’s Micro-Commerce Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of People’s Leasing & Finance PLC which has state ownership through being the subsidiary of People’s Bank. He obtains twenty four years exposure in microfinance & community development fields. Mr. Wasantha has vast work knowledge & experience in General Administration, Human Resource Management & Operations
Management in NGO sector and co-operatives focused on Business Development & Animal Husbandry. Meantime being a chairman of co-operative sector he gathered corporate level management exposure.
He started his career as the first employee of Berendina and developed his career growth by being the resident project Manager in the same company. Thereafter he acted as Head of Field Operations in Lak Jaya Microfinance. Previously Mr. Wasantha served as the Hony. Vice President of LMFPA in 2013/2014 and also as a Director in 2014/2015 and 2016/2017
Ms. Tharanga Ileperuma is the General Manager and Executive Director of Agro Micro Investments Limited and holds the Directorship of Agro Micro Foundation (Guarantee) Limited. She started her career in 2004 joining to the Micro Finance industry. During her career over 14 years she has experience in Accounting, Auditing, Finance Management, Human resource Management and Administration.
She holds the membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Sri Lanka as the Certified Business Accountant, and the membership of the Institute of AAT –SL. She completed the Post-graduate Diploma from Cardiff Metropolitan University-UK and holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Sunderland – UK. She also has undergone trainings on Micro Finance in IBSL.
Mr. Chamika Weerasinghe has over 20 years of experience in the field of banking and finance with regard to Micro Financing, SME Financing, Corporate Banking, Retail/Branch Banking, Trade Finance, Project Finance, and Credit Risk Management in the most respected banks in Sri Lanka including NDB Bank PLC, DFCC Bank PLC and Seylan Bank PLC. He has also held some Senior Management position in Finance and Micro Finance industry in local and South East Asian Region.
His relevant work experience also includes years of service as a veteran investment adviser in local and Asian region and provide advisory service on fund and liquidity management in finance and other versatile sectors as a key intermediate.
He earned his Bachelor of Commerce (Special) Degree from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura and Masters in Business Administration as well. He is also an Associate Member of Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Victor Rathnayake is the Director of the MFI Nomic International Ltd. He is also the founder CEO of Grameen Micro Credit Co Ltd that introduced the Grameen concept to Sri Lanka back in 2000. He received comprehensive training in microfinance under Prof. Mohamed Yunus, Nobel prize winner for introducing Grameen concept to the world. Mr. Rathnayake was able to extend the microfinance business throughout Sri Lanka with 78 strong branch network with 2,498 staff and 364,000 borrowers during the period 2000-2008. He was also able to build up to 8,400 clientele with over Rs. 9 billion deposit base in 2008.
He later joined Bimputh Finance PLC in 2012 and commenced microfinance operations there. Under his leadership, the microfinance portfolio increased from zero to 1.5 billion. The customer base exceeded 67,000 with a net profit of Rs. 252 million within a short period of 22 months.
Having over 30 years of experience in the field of marketing and working with leading multinational organizations locally and internationally, he has trained over 8,000 youth in the field of microfinance.
Mr. Rathnayake is Bsc Graduate from the University of Peradeniya and a Post Graduate Diploma holder of Marketing Management at Sri Jayawardenapura University. He is also a fellow member the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK and certificate holder of Retail merchandising in Toronto Canada and Singapore.
Mr. Saman Ranaweera is the Senior Manager – Operations at Ventura Crystal Investments Ltd. He has over 27 years’ of experience in the Microfinance sector with more than 22 years in the management and top management in leading Microfinance Institutions in the Industry.
He started his career as a Divisional Project Manager at Seeds Guarantee Ltd in 1993 where he served for 9 years prior to joining Agro Microfinance (GTE) Ltd as a Credit Manager. Prior to joining Ventura Crystal Investments Ltd, he also served as the Senior Manager – Field Operations at Lakjaya Microfinance Ltd and as the Senior Manager – Operations at Agro Microfinance (GTE) Ltd.
Mr. Ranaweera is a fully Certified Trainer of the Microfinance Distance Course by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and Tokyo Development Learning Centre (TDLC). He is also a Certified Trainer of GCAP. He has also attended various “Training of Trainers” programs conducted by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and LMFPA & Plan Sri Lanka.
Mr. Ransith de Mel heads the operations of ECLOF LANKA (GTE) LTD a pioneering MNGO in Sri Lanka serving the Nation with a very strong program in “Fair Credit to Promote Human Development and Dignity”. He commenced his career at The Central Finance Company and has served many Commercial Organizations. He has a strong financial background during his employment career for more than 30 years and possess strong work experience on Financial Management, Supply Chain Management, General Administration, Human Resources Management, Implementations of Systems, Processors and Process Controls etc. He has training in India on Group-based microfinance for collective empowerment.
Mr. Prasad Seneviratne who was an old boy of Trinity College Kandy, and obtained his Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the University of South Alabama in the USA, and has gained experience of being a Director on Board of several companies. He was the Managing Director of Silvereen Finance Company Ltd, until June 2009 (which was registered under the central bank of Sri Lanka).
Presently he is functioning as the Managing Director of Silvereen Micro Credit Company Ltd., Silvereen Real Estate Company (pvt) Ltd., and Silvereen Trade Solutions Company (pvt) Ltd., (previously known as Silvereen Agencies Company (pvt) Ltd., the importers of brand new and recondition motor vehicles from Japan), and counts more than 14 years of experience in the mainstream financial sector.
Mr. Bandula Hennadige is the Executive Director of the South Asia Partnership- Sri Lanka (SAPSRI). He is a development professional with over 40 years of working experience. His areas of expertise include project development, regional planning, and management, monitoring and evaluation of medium and large-scale projects, rural infrastructure, food security, social mobilization, livelihood development and water and sanitation for marginalized communities
He has gained much practical knowledge and experience while working in the public sector in various positions, including as a Project Director in the donor financed “Integrated Rural Development Programs” (IRDPs) that were implemented in the ’80s and ’90s in Sri Lanka. Additionally, he has served as Senior Program Officer in the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Royal Netherlands and has also managed donor-funded projects in the NGO sector.
Mr. Hennadige holds a B. Com degree from the University of Peradeniya and a Diploma in Industrial Development from the National Institute of Business Management. He also has a postgraduate master’s degree in economics from the University of Wales in the UK.
Mr Felician Jayakody joined Sarvodaya Development Finance Ltd from January 2018. He counts over 27 years of banking experience having served International and Local banks.
He has experience in Branch Banking, Trade Finance, Corporate / SME Banking, Leasing, Project financing, Relationship Banking, Syndications, Risk Management, Treasury, Process Development & Re- Engineering , Audit , Credit Administration, Recoveries , Islamic Banking , Compliance and FCBU.
He started his career at Hatton National Bank where he served for 11 years and moved to Nations Trust Bank as Customer Relationship Manager.
Prior to joining Emirates NBD Bank in the United Arab Emirates, he was the Regional Manager at Pan Asia Banking Corporation.
Having returned to Srilanka from the United Arab Emirates in June 2012, Mr. Felician has functioned as a Head of Corporate Banking / FCBU (WR) in Amana Bank Plc prior to joining SDF.
He has completed the Credit Management Diploma (IBSL), Diploma in International Factoring – UAE, Diploma in Computer Studies. He has a BSc in Business Administration from University of Sri Jayawardenapura, MBA (USA). as well as AIB (inter) SL
Felician is a Fellow in Certified Managers at Cambridge Association of Managers (UK) and a Fellow of the Certified Professional Managers (Sri Lanka).
Mr. Conrad Ranawake is the founder and Director of Institute for Development of Community Strengths (INDECOS) based in Matara. He holds a special degree in sociology from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya. He commenced his career from the Marga Institute, served under Family Planning Association and Helpage Sri Lanka.
In 1991 he was able to establish INDECOS with the support of a few senior government officers. During this 30 year period implemented over 100 community and health projects in Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts. (Southern Province)
He was able to work with over 35 International funding agencies including the World Bank, UN Agencies, many High Commissions and Embassies
As a NGO person he was able to form the Ruhunu NGO Forum in Matara district with the support of SLCDF and chaired nearly 10 years. In addition he assisted to form the National NGO Action Front (NNAF) and hold major key positions.
Mr. Ranawake has attended a series of training programs, study tours and conferences in 18 countries including USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Botswana, Taiwan, Thailand, etc.
INDECOS commenced this micro finance program in 2005 as to serve women victims of Tsunami disaster in the costal belt of Matara district and currently cater over 7000 women members spread in 109 GN divisions. At present this program run as a sustainable program. INDECOS always thank Berandina Development Services, CIDA and GENINSA (Germany) for helping this remarkable program.
Mr. Ranawake consider LMFPA as a valuable asset for the development of micro finance program.
Mr. Udaya Bandara currently performs his duties as the Chief Executive Officer of the Arthavida Intermediary Company Ltd (AIL), which has been operated in the Micro Finance industry in Sri Lanka in a successful manner nearly thirty years period.
Before joining to Arthavida Intermediary Limited, Mr. Bandara carried out his duties more than five years period as the Chief Executive officer/ General Manager of Sri Lanka Savings Bank (SLSB) which is mainly catering as a Government Bank for the Development of Micro Finance as well as the Small and Medium Sector (SME) industry in Sri Lanka. After his retirement from SLSB he worked as the Management consultant to one of the leading Vehicle Spare parts importers in Sri Lanka and then he joined as the Chief Executive Officer of Arthavida Intermediary Co. Limited.
Mr Bandara has gained a vast experience & exposure mainly in relation to the field of Micro Financing, project financing, SME sector Financing, Development Finance, Rural credit activities as well as in all kind of Retail credit activates in different kind of Leading Government and the private sector Banks such as National savings Bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd and Union Bank of Colombo PLC. His total years of banking experience counts more than thirty four years.
In Sri Lanka savings Bank Mr. Bandara Started SME Lending Business activities and introduced several Innovative products in relation to the SME as well as Micro Finance and Savings Deposits enabling the Bank to increase the market share & make more profit. Likewise in Union Bank he commenced the SME, Agriculture and Micro Finance Department being headed introducing many more credit lines and new products.
He has successfully completed Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Wayamba university of Sri Lanka. And also he has gained several other professional qualifications such as Post Graduate Executive Diploma in Bank Management (IBSL), Post Graduate Executive Diploma in Business Management ( Wayamba University), Post Graduate Executive Diploma In Micro Finance in ( SLFI),Diploma In Agriculture(SLSA),Diploma In Credit Management (IBSL) etc.
He also has been privileged to participate many more local and international seminars, conferences & Trainings especially in respect of the areas in Rural Credit, Business & Bank Management., Improving the productivity & the Quality assurance in SME projects etc. and various other disciplines in Japan, Singapore, India and China.
Mr. Bandara’s Local and international experience, knowledge & the exposure in Micro Finance and the Network connections would be immensely valued to the LMFPA.
LMPA is the pioneer in microfinance networking among microfinance practitioners in Sri Lanka, and was initiated on the 31st of March 2006. The Lanka Microfinance Practitioners’ Association is incorporated as a non-profit organization under the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007.