Key Takeaways
The importance of community and cultural exchange is paramount.
Leadership is a journey that involves collaboration, continuous learning, and embracing diverse perspectives.
Achievements are not the finish line. There are always new ideas to explore, more people to support and plenty more businesses to build.
Some moments make you think about what comes next. Others make you stop and think about how far you have come.
For me, the evening of 5 October 2026 was one of those moments. I was at Pullman Melbourne on the Park for the Australia Sri Lanka Business Council’s 25th Anniversary Honour Roll & Business Awards Gala Dinner when my name was called for the Outstanding Professional Leader Award.
It was an honour, of course. But what stayed with me most was not the title of the award. It was everything the moment represented.
I looked around the room and thought about Sri Lanka, Australia, the businesses I have built, the people I have worked alongside and the many unexpected turns that brought me to that evening. For a few minutes, it felt less like receiving an award and more like looking back at a journey.
Sri Lanka Is Where My Story Began
Sri Lanka will always be an important part of who I am. It is where my story began, long before technology businesses, entrepreneurship, books or awards entered the picture.
Like most careers that span several decades, mine certainly did not begin with a grand plan for where I would eventually end up. There were opportunities, setbacks, risks, lessons and plenty of moments when the next step was not obvious.
What I did have was curiosity. I have always been fascinated by change, particularly the way technology changes how people work, communicate and build businesses.
That curiosity has followed me throughout my career and, in many ways, continues to guide what I do today.
Australia Became the Place Where I Built the Next Chapter
Australia became my adopted home and the place where much of my professional journey took shape. Over the years, I moved from working within technology to helping organisations navigate digital change, and eventually to building businesses of my own.
There were no shortcuts. Starting and growing companies teaches you very quickly that an idea alone is never enough.
You need good people around you, customers willing to trust you, and the patience to keep improving when something does not work the first time. You also need to be comfortable with change.
Technology has changed enormously during my career. The internet changed business. Social media changed communication and selling. Cloud technology changed how organisations operate. Today, AI is reshaping work all over again.
Each wave has required us to learn, adapt and sometimes rethink what we thought we already knew. That has probably been one of the most consistent themes of my career: keep learning and keep moving.
Growth Was Never Just About Building Companies
Entrepreneurship is often measured through businesses launched, markets entered or revenue generated. Those things matter, but they have never been the full picture for me.
What I value most is what businesses allow us to create around them: jobs, opportunities, careers, skills and confidence.
Over the years, I have had the privilege of building businesses and working with teams across Australia and Sri Lanka. Watching people develop their skills, take on bigger responsibilities and build careers of their own has been one of the most rewarding parts of that journey.
Businesses grow because people grow with them. That is something I have come to appreciate more with every passing year.
No Achievement Belongs to One Person
That was also why having my wife, Nimmie, and my sister-in-law, Mano Rajan, there that evening meant so much.
When people see an award, they usually see one person’s name written on it. But behind that name is almost always a much longer list of people.
Family members who supported the decisions that did not always make sense at the time. Colleagues who stayed late to solve a problem. Teams who took an idea and made it better.
Customers who trusted us before everything was perfect. Friends and mentors who offered advice at the right moment.
There are many people behind every milestone I have reached. So while I am grateful to have my name on this award, I do not see it as mine alone.
It belongs, in part, to every person who helped make the journey possible.
Why This Recognition Felt Different
I have been fortunate to receive recognition at different points in my career, but this one carried a particular meaning.
Sri Lanka is my birthplace. Australia is the country I now call home.
To receive an award from an organisation dedicated to strengthening the relationship between those two countries brought those two parts of my life together in a way I had not expected.
It reminded me that careers are rarely neat, straight lines. Mine has crossed countries, industries and different generations of technology.
But through all of those changes, the opportunity to connect people, develop talent and build something useful has remained constant. That is what made this recognition special.
Celebrating 25 Years of Australia–Sri Lanka Connections
The evening itself was also about something much bigger than any individual award.
The Australia Sri Lanka Business Council was celebrating 25 years of building stronger relationships between Australia and Sri Lanka.
The room brought together leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs and members of the community who have each contributed in their own way to the relationship between the two countries.
It was encouraging to hear their stories and see the breadth of work being done across business and the wider community.
My congratulations go to every honouree and award recipient recognised that evening.
And to the Council and its committee, thank you for creating an occasion that celebrated not only professional achievement, but the connections between two countries that mean so much to many of us.
Grateful for the Recognition. More Excited About What Comes Next.
A career of more than four decades gives you plenty to look back on, but I am not particularly interested in spending too much time looking backwards.
There is still a great deal changing around us. AI is opening new possibilities for businesses and individuals. Technology continues to remove old barriers.
Younger generations are entering workplaces that will look very different from the ones many of us began our careers in. There are new ideas to explore, people to support and businesses still to build.
That excites me far more than any finish line.
So I will treasure this recognition and what it represents, but I also see it as a reminder to keep going.
Sri Lanka gave me my beginning. Australia gave me the opportunity to build another chapter. Along the way, many people helped turn ideas into something real.
For that, I am deeply grateful. And there is still plenty more to build.