For Sashi Jayakody, finance experts play a key role in shaping public economic policy. As a finance director at a multinational conglomerate based in Sri Lanka, she believes that industry professionals can bring a solid voice on practices, tax reforms and sustainability principles to the policymakers’ table.
Now the FD for Hayleys Aventura, Hayleys Lifesciences, Hayleys Consumer Products, she handles everything from supply chain to ESG and digital for the business. ‘It’s transformational,’ she says, ‘from thinking as a typical accounting professional to being a facilitator.’
Jayakody manages a young team of 60 people. ‘It’s not just about leading,’ she says. ‘It’s about ensuring inclusion and growth, with a commitment to empower the team, to create value and encourage them to achieve objectives.’
‘The values and colour you bring to your team define you as a leader’
Turning point
She was still a second-year university student when she began her career as a trainee financial analyst at LOLC, one of Sri Lanka’’s largest conglomerates. ‘I could multitask,’ she says.
Having laid the foundation for her career, she moved to Colombo Fort Land & Building where she worked for over a decade, advancing to head of corporate finance at the parent company, and then the financial controller of Lankem Ceylon, a subsidiary of the group.
In 2022, she joined Hayleys as a general manager overseeing the annual report, corporate budget and other initiatives. Within 11 months, she was promoted to FD of Hayleys industry input, power and energy sector, becoming the first executive female director at the company at the age of 36. ‘It was a milestone for a woman at a young age to hold such a position,’ she says.
‘The values, energy, cultural shift and the colour that you bring into your team,’ she says, will define you as a leader. ‘When you recruit someone, you invest in them, you lead them, guide them and together make decisions for better results.’ Another powerful principle, she adds, is the art of listening.
‘Emerging tech has significantly transformed my role as a finance director’
ACCA, too, has played a pivotal role in her career, conferring confidence and credibility. The qualification, she explains, has brought her ‘a diverse array of opportunities and recognition internationally’.
Future-ready
Over the years, Jayakody and her team have automated core finance, supply chain and administration processes, capturing efficiencies in time management and resource usage. ‘Emerging tech has significantly transformed my role as a finance director,’ she says. ‘It’s about being a futuristic CFO, data-driven to further strategic decision-making and view the organisation in a holistic way.’
While she believes that automation and the adoption of AI will help businesses to advance to the next level, she stresses the importance of the human factor. ‘It is critical to give your employees the assurance that their roles are safe,’ she says. ‘We are automating for certain benefits. Saving time helps elevate employees’ profile by giving them more responsibility, which adds value to them and the organisation.’
Green finance
Addressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in Sri Lanka, Jayakody explains that companies have adopted sustainable practices into their financial strategies while professional bodies are streamlining ESG frameworks into practice. Finance companies have introduced green loans and green bonds for renewable energy projects, while the central bank’s sustainable finance roadmap ensures the integration of climate and social risk into banking, insurance and capital markets.
While short- and medium-term ‘volatility and disruption is constant’ in the Sri Lankan economic landscape, she says it can bring ‘better, positive prospects’ in the longer term. ‘If you are geared to take higher risks, you will consider longer payback and long-term returns,’ she points out.
‘You need to invest in your wellbeing’
Recently, Jayakody chaired the ACCA’s national initiatives subcommittee and contributed to ACCA’s proposal for Sri Lanka’s Budget. She champions tax incentives such as concessionary rates or tax holidays as vital in a dynamic economic environment to encourage small and medium enterprises and ‘help Sri Lanka achieve better results’.
She adds that green taxation policies will help new and established companies with ESG-related initiatives and renewable energy projects. ‘For those who aren’t aligning with sustainable principles, we can impose penalties to bridge a balance.’
Self-care
As a woman in a leadership role, she is passionate about mentorship, inclusivity and self-care. On Women’s Day this year, she initiated a breast cancer awareness programme for working women. ‘When women are multitasking, they tend to neglect themselves,’ she says. ‘You need to love yourself. You need to invest time in your wellbeing, health and safety.’
She was also part of a transformative leadership programme for young employees at Hayleys Aventura, which addressed areas such as personal transformation to ‘achieve key performance indicators, enhancing soft skills and thought processes, and converting weaknesses into strengths’.
Fulfilling journey
Her journey in the corporate sector has been ‘quite challenging but rewarding’, she says. While there were times she had to overcome ‘traditional mindsets and unconscious biases’, she believes organisations are now progressing towards implementing diverse leadership.
Businesses in Sri Lanka need to ‘continue to introduce inclusive policies and leadership development programmes’ and implement ‘more opportunities, initiatives and equal opportunities’ to create a pipeline of young future female leaders, she says.
‘Be brave, bold and accountable for the decisions you take in life’
She says she prioritises rather than balances her roles as wife, mother and daughter. ‘If there’s an event at school or my mother is sick, I have never felt guilty about talking to my seniors and requesting leave,’ she explains. ‘I’ve always given the assurance and confidence that my duties are done.’
She advises aspiring young finance professionals, especially women, to ‘come out of their comfort zone’, ‘be brave and bold’ in facing the challenges that come their way and ‘be accountable for the decisions they take in life’.
And most important of all, she says, is this: ‘Before inspiring others, you need to inspire yourself.’
CV
2022
General manager finance, Hayleys, then FD for Aventura, Hayleys Lifesciences and Hayleys Consumer Products
2018
Senior manager finance and corporate planning, then head of corporate finance, Colombo Fort Land & Building
2011
Assistant manager, then finance manager, Lankem Ceylon, a subsidiary of Colombo Fort Land & Building Group
2010
Financial analyst, LOLC
