Dhammika Perera has been closely linked to the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, having served as chairman of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka from 2007 to 2010 and Transport Secretary from 2011 to 2015.
24 Facts About Dhammika Perera
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Dhammika Perera was appointed a Member of Parliament in the National List in June 2022, succeeding Basil Rajapaksa from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, briefly serving President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as his Minister of Investment Promotion from June to July 2022.
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Dhammika Perera was born in 1967 in Payagala in the Kalutara District.
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Dhammika Perera's father was a grocery businessman and his mother was a school teacher.
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Dhammika Perera completed his primary and secondary education at the Taxila Central College, Horana and started on the NDT program at the Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa.
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Dhammika Perera then rented slot machines, installing them in his uncle's cafe.
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In 1987, dropping out of the NDT program, Dhammika Perera went to Taiwan for three months of technical training.
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Dhammika Perera ran Tito Electronics, an electronic shop repairing electronic circuit boards in Colpetty.
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Dhammika Perera started a business producing and selling neon bulbs in 1995, at a time when none of the manufacturers was keen on selling those bulbs.
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Dhammika Perera acquired a majority stake in Pan Asia Bank in 2000, at a time when the bank was regarded as a loss-making financial institution.
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Dhammika Perera met investor Nimal Perera after acquiring the Pan Asia Bank stake, who become his close business partner until the duo parted ways in 2017.
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Dhammika Perera acquired the family-owned The Rupee Finance Company Limited in 2005, which was later rebranded as Vallibel Finance and took it to an initial public offering in 2010.
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Dhammika Perera has been the executive director of Vallibel Finance since 2014.
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In 2008, Dhammika Perera acquired a controlling stake in Hayleys PLC, the Sri Lankan conglomerate founded in 1878.
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Dhammika Perera became the chairman of Lanka Tiles in 2017 and was appointed the co-chairman of Singer in October 2017 after Hayleys agreed to buy Singer.
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Dhammika Perera was appointed the chairman of Director Board of Lanka Ceramic PLC in 2017, but he resigned from the position on 31 August 2018.
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Dhammika Perera was appointed chairman of Board of Directors of Lanka Walltiles in 2017.
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Dhammika Perera continued to own three of the five casinos in Colombo, namely Bally's Colombo, Bellagio Colombo and The Ritz Club.
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In 2014, Dhammika Perera planned to start a joint venture project with Australian gambling tycoon James Packer's Crown Casino of a value more than US$300 million, but the project was rejected by the newly elected United National Front Government.
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In September 2019, Dhammika Perera published a document Sri Lanka 2030: A Developed Nation, with policy recommendations for 21 ministries with the aim of increasing Sri Lanka's per capita income to $12,000 by 2030.
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In 2019, Dhammika Perera launched DP Education on YouTube providing online learning for school going children in Sri Lanka.
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Dhammika Perera created 120 DP Education IT Campuses across Sri Lanka to deliver quality IT Education for the students.
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On June 22 2022, Dhammika Perera was sworn in as a National list member of Parliament, after being proposed to the Election Commission by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, having taken up party membership to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa.
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On 6 August 2024, by a letter addressed to the General Secretary of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, Dhammika Perera conveyed his intention to withdraw from seeking the party nomination.