This week marked the close of a remarkable chapter in Sri Lanka’s investment promotion history, as Mrs. Renuka M. Weerakone, Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI), relinquishes her position on 25 June after more than three decades of unbroken service to the institution she has helped shape and steer.

Mrs. Weerakone joined the BOI on 1 June 1994 as an Assistant Manager (Legal), beginning a career that would see her rise, step by deliberate step, through nearly every tier of the organization, from Assistant Manager, Senior Manager, Acting Director, Director, Executive Director, Acting Director General, and finally Director General. Few public-sector careers trace so complete an arc within a single institution, and fewer still touch as many of its functions along the way. Over the years, she served in the Regional Development Department, the Project Implementation Department, the Regional Development & Special Projects Department, the Investment Promotion Department, the Director General’s Secretariat, the Investment Appraisal Department, and the Project Monitoring Department, as well as held the position of secretary to board for the 5 years,  a breadth of exposure that gave her an unusually complete view of how investment moves from policy to project on the ground.

Before the BOI, Mrs. Weerakone engaged as an Instructing Attorney at a leading Colombo law firm, having qualified as an Attorney-at-Law, Notary Public, and Commissioner for Oaths. She would later add a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, pairing legal precision with strategic and managerial depth. This combination came to define her approach to institution-building at the BOI.

That combination served the country well on the international stage. Mrs. Weerakone led outward investment promotion missions to key global markets. She represented Sri Lanka at high-level trade negotiations and international forums, work that was central to positioning the country as a credible and competitive destination for foreign direct investment. Closer to home, she served on project approval committees spanning education, power, and environment, and contributed to steering committees, policy committees, and inter-agency task forces set up to resolve investor issues and improve project implementation efficiency, the less visible but no less critical work of keeping investment promotion machinery running smoothly.

Her contribution beyond the BOI has been equally significant. She serves as a Board Member of the Export Development Board (EDB) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Sri Lanka, extending her influence into the broader trade and commerce ecosystem. In 2025, that body of work was recognized when she was awarded the “Women in Investment and International Trade Leadership” title at the Top50 Professional & Career Women Global Awards, a fitting tribute to a career built on quiet, sustained impact rather than the pursuit of recognition.

Having stepped away after 32 years of service, Mrs. Weerakone reflects on the vantage point that retirement affords:

“Retirement from a long career in senior public service brings a unique vantage point. It allows one to step away from the daily crises of administration and look at the broader horizon of our national trajectory. Over the span of my career, I have watched our institutions weather economic shifts, political transitions, and unprecedented global challenges. What this journey has taught me is that the strength of a nation does not lie solely in its governmental directives, but in the resilience, continuity, and integrity of its administrative backbone.”

It is a fitting note on which to close a career spent, in large part, building exactly that resilience, continuity, and integrity within the institution entrusted with attracting investment to Sri Lanka. Colleagues across the BOI and the wider investment promotion community will remember Mrs. Weerakone not only for the positions she held, but for the steady hand she brought to each of them, and for a standard of institutional commitment that will continue to guide the organization long after her departure.

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka extends its deepest gratitude to Mrs. Renuka M. Weerakone for her thirty-two years of dedicated service and wishes her a retirement as rewarding as the career that preceded it.