Career

In 2011, he was named by the LMD Magazine as one of the ten ‘Business People of the Year’. Triad is the most awarded indigenous advertising agency in Sri Lanka. Jayaweera’s agency is known to have been behind several high profile campaigns including ‘Api Wenuwen Api’ created on behalf of the Sri Lanka forces to raise the profile of the army, navy and air force during the latter stages of the Sri Lankan civil war against the LTTE. The company has been heavily diversified and Jayaweera has set up over 20 subsidiaries.

Among them is a national television channel Derana.

With the aim of building a modern conglomerate, Jayaweera has recently entered industries such as travel and leisure, pharmaceuticals, property and manufacturing. In the post-war Sri Lankan economy, Jayaweera has risen to prominence as an aggressive investor – his investment arm Divasa Equity is a majority shareholder in public listed companies such as Citrus Leisure Public Limited Company and Colombo Land and Development Public Limited Company, and in October 2011 took over the 176-year-old George Steuart Group, Sri Lanka’s oldest mercantile establishment and a successful diversified conglomerate.

He sits on the Boards of several companies including Citrus Leisure Public Limited Company, Colombo Land Public Limited Company, Pan Asian Power Public Limited Company and Triad (Pvt) Limited, and is Chairman of the George Steuart Group of Companies. The District Judge of Colombo in 2011 issued an enjoining order against Telshan Network of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s brother Shan Wickremesinghe and one of his directors preventing them from defaming Dilith Jayaweera on a local radio channel Isira Radio.

Order was given consequent to action filed by Dilith Jayaweera against Shan Wickremesinghe and his co-host for defamatory comments made on a radio show.

Jayaweera also sent the British Broadcasting Corporation Sinhala service a letter of demand for defamation for carrying a story on the subject.