ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Azra is an economist and social researcher. She has over 25 years of experience working in the corporate and research sectors, including Jardine Fleming HNB Securities Sri Lanka, the Institute of Policy Studies, the Centre for Poverty Analysis and Verite Research.

She holds a BA from the University of Kent at Canterbury, an MA from the University of Colombo and MPhil from the University of Cambridge.

Dinike is a cross-border funding specialist with a track record of founding and globally scaling multiple companies with a focus on supply-chain efficiency. He is currently the Founder/CEO of Ethical Extracts, a company that produces liquid tea and coffee extracts with a unique supply chain and zero carbon business model, catering to Tier-1 food & beverage players across Asia, Europe, and North America.

He has a background in private equity, M&A, and manufacturing across the US and Sri Lanka. Dinike has an MPhil in Real Estate Finance from Cambridge University (where he was named a Cambridge Commonwealth Scholar), and a BBA from the University of Notre Dame (US). He also completed his Executive Education in Artificial Intelligence & Business Strategy from MIT’s Sloan School (US). Dinike is also an Alumni of Frontier from the Economic Research Team. 

Sanjeev is a seasoned SAP software professional with a demonstrated history of 22+ years working with leading global fashion companies across USA, UK, Australia, China, HK, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, & India. He currently holds the position of President, APAC – Consumer Industries at Rizing.

He has led several successful client engagements covering sectors across fashion, retail, telco, food/beverage, Insurance with hands on experience in consulting operations & leading end-to-end SAP projects.

Sanjeev has held distinct leadership roles, serving as SVP - APAC at Attune Consulting, involved in defining and positioning the business as a niche SAP consulting company for the fashion industry.

Shiran is presently a Consultant Economist and was formerly the Chief Economist at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) where he led the Economic Intelligence Unit. Shiran previously held the role of Lead Economist and Senior Product Head at Frontier Research. He has been part of numerous economic and business forums both locally and internationally as a speaker, panelist and a moderator. Shiran is also a contributing writer to LMD's monthly Economic Outlook column and an alumnus of the U.S International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).

Shiran holds a Bachelors in Economics and Finance from the University of London. He also holds ACMA and CGMA professional qualifications, a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Relations from the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS), and an Executive MBA from the Post Graduate Institute of Management, Sri Lanka. He is presently a Chevening Scholar and is reading for a MSc in Economic Policy from SOAS University of London.

Thareef was previously the lead research economist at Frontier. Since leaving he went on to co-found an artificial intelligence startup in the healthcare industry, and exited after its acquisition in 2021. Today, he serves as both a partner and advisor for various venture capital funds specialising in consumer goods and defence sectors based in the United States.