Northern Province’s largest edible oil manufacturer brings together banking, finance, FMCG, export and sustainability expertise, with stronger Board of Directors

Venkadeshwara Agro Industry Ltd, the largest edible oil manufacturer in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, has constituted a seven-member Board of Directors that pairs founder leadership with deep expertise in banking, finance, FMCG, exports and sustainability. Five of the seven directors are independent, a structure that signals the Company’s intent to hold itself to the governance standards expected of Sri Lanka’s leading corporates as it scales. 

The appointment  of Michael Ranasinghe and L. Chiranthi Cooray toVenkadeshwara’s Board has strengthened the company’s existing robust leadership which includes Dr. Bradley Emerson (Non-Executive Chairman), Kanakasingam Suganthon (Founder/ MD), Rizvi Mowlana, R. Suresh, and Manjula Priyadarshana. 

 L. Chiranthi Cooray, is appointed as an Independent Board Director and specialist in ESG, Enterprise Transformation & Risk Expert. She is the Founder, of Accedo Intel. With more than 20 years of leadership experience across banking, financial services, capital markets, the public sector, and academia. Chiranthi brings a strong combination of board governance, enterprise risk, ESG, human capital, organizational transformation, and institutional resilience expertise. Her work focuses on helping boards and senior leadership teams strengthen accountability, culture, leadership capability, internal controls, and sustainable performance. Michael Ranasinghe is appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director. He boasts of dual qualifications in marketing and digital marketing and a MBA from UK with International experience in marketing, management and strategic advisory, including 11 years with a Japanese multinational, senior management with a Hong Kong-based fashion house, an educator and co-founder of Synergy School of Business London, currently serving on the board of an international health tech company and consultant to multiple boards.

“We started this journey in Jaffna in 2001 with a simple belief: that the North could produce oils as good as any on a Sri Lankan table. Today our refinery supplies households, bakeries and food manufacturers. This Board gives us the experience to take the next step, with more capacity, stronger brands and new markets overseas, without losing the quality and the community that got us here,” said Kanakasingam Suganthon, Founder and Managing Director.

With its Board in place, the Company’s priorities include expanding production and marketing capacity, building its consumer and bakery-ingredient brands, deepening its presence in export markets, and developing its laboratory into a center offering third-party quality testing to businesses across Sri Lanka.

“Venkadeshwara is driven towards a stronger governance, financial discipline culture with market insight that allows the business to standout. With five independent directors and experience that spans banking, finance, FMCG and exports, we intend to hold ourselves to the standards that investors, lenders and customers expect of the country’s best-run companies,” said Dr. Bradley Emerson, Non-Executive Chairman.

Venkadeshwara’s journey began in 2001, and it was incorporated as a limited liability company in 2014. In 2018 it commissioned its refinery in the Achchuveli Industrial Zone, Jaffna, and is today one of the largest edible oil refining and solvent extraction facilities in the Northern Province, with annual capacity of 17,000 tons of oil refining and 30,000 tons of solvent extraction. In 2021 the Company received a Rs. 100 million grant under the World Bank’s Sri Lanka Agriculture Sector Modernization Project. It directly employs more than 100 people in the region.

The Company manufactures premium (RBD) palm olein, coconut oil and rice bran oil, and has expanded into margarine and bakery fats in 2025. Nothing is wasted: by-products are converted into palm, coconut and rice fatty acids, rice bran wax, palm stearin and, serving food manufacturers, bakeries and industrial users. A pioneer of advanced filtration technology in edible oil refining in the Jaffna District, Venkadeshwara is ISO 9001:2015, HACCP, GMP and Halal certified, with an in-house laboratory and quality control at every stage of production.

The Board of Directors

•  Dr. Bradley Emerson, Non-Executive Chairman.  A seasoned senior banker and management professional with more than four decades of experience in strategic leadership across private and public sector boards, including a banking career spanning Commercial Bank, Nations Trust Bank and Pan Asia Bank, and service as CIMA Regional Director for the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa.
• Kanakasingam Suganthon, Founder and Managing Director.  The entrepreneur who built Venkadeshwara from its Jaffna roots into one of the North’s leading manufacturers, and who continues to set its strategic direction.
• Rizvi Mowlana, Marketing Director.  More than four decades in FMCG marketing, with deep knowledge of consumer markets, brands and commercial strategy.
• R. Suresh, Independent Non-Executive Director.  A Chartered Accountant, Chartered Management Accountant with over 20 years of experience in the field of taxation , and Principal at Gajma & Co., bringing strength in accounting, taxation and financial oversight.
• Manjula Priyadarshana, Independent Non-Executive Director.  A CIMA member with 22 years across the FMCG and export sectors.
• L. Chiranthi Cooray, Independent Board Director and specialist in ESG, Enterprise Transformation & Risk Expert. She is the Founder, of Accedo Intel. With more than 20 years of leadership experience across banking, financial services, capital markets, the public sector, and academia Chiranthi brings a strong combination of board governance, enterprise risk, ESG, human capital, organizational transformation, and institutional resilience expertise. Her work focuses on helping boards and senior leadership teams strengthen accountability, culture, leadership capability, internal controls, and sustainable performance..
• Michael Ranasinghe Independent Non-Executive Director with dual qualifications in marketing and digital marketing and a MBA from UK with International experience in marketing, management and strategic advisory, including 11 years with a Japanese multinational, senior management with a Hong Kong-based fashion house, an educator and co-founder of Synergy School of Business London, currently serving on the board of an international health tech company and consultant to multiple boards.

Photo caption:(L-R) Dr. Bradley Emerson, Kanakasingam Suganthon, Rizvi Mowlana, R. Suresh, Manjula Priyadarshana, Michael Ranasinghe, L. Chiranthi Cooray