Renowned business personality Deshabandu Tilak De Zoysa has joined the Independent Board of Trustees of OrphanCare. Established and managed as an independent trust, OrphanCare aims of addressing a very important yet mostly unattended need of orphan children; which is to secure the fate of orphans once they reach the age of 18 and are compelled to leave institutional care. All OrphanCare activities and operations are fully sponsored by Amãna Bank.
A well-known figure in the Sri Lankan business community, Tilak de Zoysa, also known for his humanitarian work, is the Chairman of HelpAge, Sri Lanka’s leading NGO supporting disadvantaged senior citizens. Being the Global Ambassador and Past Chairman of HelpAge International (UK) and in recognition of his services to the country through various philanthropic and meritorious projects, Tilak de Zoysa was conferred the title of Deshabandu by His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka. He is also the recipient of “The Order of the Rising Sun – Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon” conferred by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. Tilak was also recognized by LMD in their Lifetime Achievers Award for 2017.
Tilak currently is the Chairman of Carsons Cumberbatch PLC, Associated CEAT (Pvt) Ltd, Amaya Hotels and Resorts USA (Radisson), Jetwing Zinc Journey Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Trinity Steel (Pvt) Ltd, CG Corp Global Sri Lanka and Sasakawa Memorial Sri Lanka Japan Cultural Centre Trust. He is currently an Advisor to the Al- Futtaim Group of Companies in Sri Lanka, who are the principals of AMW, in which Tilak chairs the Supervisory Board. He is also the Vice Chairman of CEAT Kelani Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Orient Insurance Ltd, and serves on the Boards of several listed and private Companies which include Tal Lanka Hotels PLC (Taj), Tal Hotels and Resorts Ltd, Nawaloka Hospitals PLC, Associated Electrical Corporation Ltd, INOAC Polymer Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Cinnovation INC, and Varun Beverages Lanka (Pvt) Ltd (Pepsi). Tilak de Zoysa was the Past President of the Colombo YMBA and past Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka. He also served as a Member of the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka from 2003 to 2009.
Sharing his views on joining the OrphanCare Trust Tilak de Zoysa said “As the Chairman of Helpage Sri Lanka for the past two decades and having served for two years as the Chairman of HelpAge International (HAI) UK, my primary focus and objective, has always been, to improve the quality of life, of the under privileged ‘Elderly Citizens’ of Sri Lanka. I am now eagerly looking forward to working with the commendable ‘OrphanCare Trust’ which has been providing the much required love and care, to our most unfortunate Orphans of our Country.
Commenting on Tilak De Zoysa joining the Board of Trustees, OrphanCare Trust Chairman Ruzly Hussain said “We are very honoured to have a person of Tilak’s caliber joining to support our cause. I am confident that along with his multitude of experience in managing many charitable projects across the globe, OrphanCare is in good hands to grow and support the vulnerable orphan children.”
Tilak de Zoysa will be joining the OrphanCare Trust which constitute as follows: Chairman of the Trust Mr Ruzly Hussain (founder of the Roteract movement in Sri Lanka), Mr Osman Kassim (Founder Chairman Amãna Bank) Mr K R Ravindran (Chairman, Board of Trustees of Rotary Foundation and former Rotary International president), Mr Rohan Tudawe – Treasurer (Chairman Tudawe Brothers), Mr Sharad Amalean (Co-founder MAS Holdings), Mr Tyeab Akbarally (Senior Director Akbar Brothers) Mr Harsha Amarasekera (President’s Counsel and Chairman CIC Holdings), Mr Jazri Magdon Ismail (Past President AAT) and Mohamed Azmeer (CEO Amãna Bank).
Despite the challenging circumstances, OrphanCare to date, has enrolled over 3,000 orphans from across 80+ orphanages and has completed seven rounds of uninterrupted quarterly fund disbursements to recipient accounts. The project has been lauded both locally and internationally which is testified by Amãna Bank winning the CSR Bank of the Year Sri Lanka at Global Banking & Finance Awards, Best Social Upliftment Project at the SLIBFI Awards, Best CSR Project at the south-asian based IFFSA Awards and the Social Responsible Bank of the Year at the IRB Awards.