Charitha Abeyratne

Charitha is the Founder and CEO of Saraii Village, which is a Sustainable Tourism brand that showcases off the beaten path experiences to smart global travellers.

She’s a Fulbright Scholar and a Presidential Scholar at Colorado State University, USA and has an MBA in Global Social Sustainable Enterprise, BSC in Business Information Technology and worked with several blue chip corporates before moving on to follow her passion in entrepreneurship.

Charitha was selected as a “Winning Woman of Asia Pacific - 2020” by E&Y Global and has been awarded as the “Young Entrepreneur of the Year - 2015”, “Zonta Woman Achiever – 2017” and “Innovation in Tourism - 2018.”

I would also challenge the common tendency where our accountability to society and commitments to sustainability are mostly carried out in an environment of perfect weather”

“A challenging year behind us… A daunting one ahead no doubt. What I choose to challenge is the innate tendency in us to see negativity in adversity. The knee jerk reaction to change in status quo where many of us allow a sense of hopelessness to creep in and lose faith.

In 2020, I was personally transformed through adversity; a test of fire if you will. I evolved to know and believe with conviction that opportunity is only a layer deep within adversity if we choose to challenge it. I choose to face my own fears of the unknown, the knots in my stomach when I am on unfamiliar territory.

Agility, the ability to adapt and the strength of conviction to execute, even when all of the dots are not perfectly aligned, are what made me face head on, the obstacles in my business, brought on by a devastating change in what we know, how we operate and our very way of life; last year. We prevailed; and also catalyzed a strategic change in our business; a change that defines us today.”