Board of Directors

Nalin Jayaraj Welgama is a senior Accountant having managed a leading firm of Chartered Accountants in the United Kingdom for several years prior to embarking upon an entrepreneurial function as founder Chairman of Ideal Group. He conceptualized and founded Ideal Plant and Vehicles Ltd UK in 1986, a company engaged in the worldwide export of luxury motor vehicles, contractors plant and machinery from the UK.

In 1996, with the formation of Ideal Automotive parts (pvt) Ltd., the seeds were sewn for the establishment of the group which at present comprises of 20 companies, each of which are playing a leading role in their respective business segments. The group has diversified in to passenger cars, commercial vehicles, heavy machinery, motor cycles, import and distribution of Tyres, financial services, automotive parts and renewable energy, and constitutes a combined turnover in excess of LKR20 Bn annually and employs over 1000 people.

He was able to realize his dream of becoming the first Sri Lankan company to partner a world renowned auto major in setting up a fully-fledged auto assembly plant which was launched in August 2019. Mahindra Ideal Lanka Private Ltd, was born to offer a selection of locally assembled vehicles to the Sri Lankan market.

Nalin J. Welgama is the youngest son of the renowned philanthropist entrepreneur Mr. S A Welgama whose name is synonymous with road haulage (transport) in Sri Lanka, a company whose origins date back to 1931

An all-time legend on the cricket field, Aravinda De Silva is the only cricketer in the world to have scored a century and taken three wickets at a Cricket World Cup. This was in 1996. He is currently an advisor to Sri Lanka Cricket.

He retired at the pinnacle of his career in 2003 and infused the combination of his passion for automobiles and keen acumen in cricket to establish and become co-partner of the Ideal Group of Companies in 2005. The success of the Group has been phenomenal with the Group venturing into numerous business sectors including automotive vehicles and tyres, green energy solutions, finance and real estate. The Group represents global giant in automotives Mahindra & Mahindra.

His experience as a business strategist in Mergers & Acquisitions and as a venture capital investor in tech start-ups is renowned.

In 2017, he was appointed Chairman of Thomas Cook Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, an investment by Fairbridge Capital Canada, which is a strategic investor in Fairfirst Insurance and Nations Trust Bank, Sri Lanka.

Ms. Chrishanthi Lucilla Jayewardene is an Attorney-At Law with over 30 years of post-qualification experience. She commenced her carrier at M/s F.J & G De Sarams Attorney At Law. Thereafter she joined the National Development Bank and was a member of the Senior Management Team.

Currently she is serving as a Consultant at the Urban Development Authority. Ms. Jayewardene is a member of the Association of Development Finance Institutions in Asia and Pacific. She has also held Directorships in several Companies.

Mufaddal Choonia was appointed as the Managing Director & CEO of Mahindra Ideal Finance, Sri Lanka, in July 2024 and is responsible to run all the affairs of the company on a day-to-day basis. A professional with over 15 years of rich international experience (of a total experience of 25 years), Mufaddal has played various critical roles where he has set up from grounds up and then led, businesses and functions in many geographies across India, Europe and the Middle East. Prior to this role, he held the position of Dy. Senior Vice President – Emerging Markets, at Mahindra Finance in India, where he was responsible for leading Mahindra Finance’s entry into India like Asian markets.

Mufaddal joined the Mahindra Group in 1999, as part of its flagship Corporate Management Trainee program that nurtures Future Leaders for the Mahindra Group. He has held various key responsibilities in marketing, sales and strategy across the automotive and financial services businesses, as well as the Group Strategy Office of the Mahindra Group. As the first Brand Manager of the “Scorpio”, he was part of the core team that developed and launched the iconic vehicle that in many ways defined the future of the automotive business of the Mahindra Group. He was also the first Marketing Head of Mahindra Finance where he was responsible to launch the company’s first ever integrated marketing campaign as well as first corporate identity program. He was also part of the core team that in the year 2006, launched the Mahindra Finance’s highly successful IPO that was extremely well received at the Indian Stock Exchanges.

Mufaddal has also played the role of the Chief Executive Officer of Mahindra Racing SpA, Italy, wherein he set up Mahindra Group’s performance and racing motorcycle development and manufacturing company in Italy. He has also had a stint in the Mahindra Group Strategy Office wherein he was closely involved in supporting various business leaders of the Mahindra Group in helping them develop their long-term business strategies and improve business performance.

Besides the Mahindra Group, Mufaddal has worked with the Emirates Bank Group in Dubai from 2007 to 2009 as Head of Marketing for their consumer finance business called Emirates Money and was part of the leadership team that was responsible in setting up the highly successful business in the UAE.

Mufaddal has completed his Post Graduation in Management from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Mumbai (erstwhile called NITIE). He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from Mumbai University.

Mr. Thilan Wijesinghe was appointed as a Non-Executive Independent Director to the MIFL Board with effect from 29th of October 2024. He holds degrees in Industrial Engineering, Economics and Business from State University of New York and Cornell University, USA.

Mr. Wijesinghe is currently the Chairman and CEO of TWCorp (TWC), an investment bank he founded 12 years ago, and sits on Boards of several public and private companies in Sri Lanka, India and Maldives. TWC is engaged in private equity, corporate finance, Mergers & Acquisitions and PPP advisory work for local and international clients in Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal. He is the and the Chairman of Sri Lanka Institute of Nano Technology and a co-founder of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology. Mr. Wijesinghe has also co-founded and become shareholder of several pioneering businesses. These include Ceylon Tea Trails, the world’s only tea plantation resort connected by walking trails, which is majority owned by Dilmah; Sapphirus Lanka, the highest value-added exporter of sapphire in Sri Lanka, and Wow.lk, an e-commerce company later sold to Dialog and now owned by Daraz.

Mr. Wijesinghe commenced his career as a Senior Consultant at PWC and then as Head of Strategic Planning at Sampath Bank. He ventured into investment banking in early 1990s and co-founded Asia Capital PLC and Asia Stock Brokers, which became Sri Lanka’s largest investment bank and stock broker in 1993 and 1994. In September 1995, Mr. Wijesinghe was invited to become the youngest ever Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI) and soon after sold his shareholding in Asia Capital. At the BOI, he pioneered Public-Private Partnership (PPP) transactions when he set up the Bureau or Infrastructure Investments (BII) of the BOI in 1996.

In his corporate career Mr. Wijesinghe has served as the Group Managing Director of Overseas Realty PLC (owning company of World Trade Centre and Havelock City), Forbes & Walker (Sri Lanka’s largest commodity broker) and Co-CEO of Asian Hotels Properties PLC (owning company of Cinnamon Grand and Lakeside, the sale of which to John Keells was directed by Mr. Wijesinghe). From 2017 to 2019, Mr. Wijesinghe served as the founder Chairman of the National Agency for Public Private Partnership (NAPPP) that developed a PPP project pipeline of over USD 2 Bn.

Raul is a career banker with extensive experience in the domain of Rural Banking and Financial Inclusion. Prior to joining Mahindra Finance, he was with Axis Bank as EVP & Head – Rural Lending & Financial Inclusion.

Over nearly 2 decades with Axis Bank, he led key businesses including Rural Lending, Farmer Funding, Gold Loans, MSME lending, Commodity Loans, Tractor & Farm Equipment Lending, Agri-Value chain Deposits, Payments & Insurance. He also led the Business correspondent channel including 15,000+ partner outlets and the Micro-ATM channel of the Bank. He played a pivotal role to increase the Banks Distribution in Rural and Semi –Urban areas through light format Banking outlets, Micro-ATMs, and Rural ecosystem partnerships.

He is credited with several transformational interventions viz. introducing various end-to-end digital initiatives and paperless loan journeys for low-income households, besides launching suitable phygital tools and customer journeys including Aadhar Pay. Under his leadership, Axis Bank has won the prestigious Financial Inclusion Award at the Asian Banking and Finance Awards in 2019 and 2021.

Raul is a member of CII National Council on Agriculture since FY19 and serves as an Advisory Board Member on the Expert Committee for Agriculture & Food Processing of Bombay Chambers of Commerce and Industry since 2017.

He is a Postgraduate in Management from the Goa Institute of Management.