Thanuja Sirisenage has bagged Outstanding Women Leadership Award

Thanuja Sirisenage has bagged Outstanding Women Leadership Award

• March 23, 2022

I’m Thanuja Sirisenage. And I am honored and truly delighted to come to know that my profile is bagged for receiving the global award for “Outstanding Women Leadership” by your esteemed establishment, ‘Women Icon Powered by Times Women’ under the category of “Women Leadership”.  I’m truly humbled by this tremendous achievement which is a blessing that stands testament to my 20 year career in Human Resources. Words would not suffice, nor do justice to how I feel at this moment, but I’m inspired and motivated to share a brief snapshot of my journey with all of you. I was born on this beautiful paradise island of Sri Lanka. I’m a mother to an amazing teenage son, who is studying for his ‘ordinary level’ exam this year. My parents and sister are very important characters in my life, and mean the world to me. 

Upon completing my upper school education from Presbyterian Girls National School (Dehiwela), I was able to start my career as trainee Accounts Clerk. While working in the first 6 month I discovered my passion lies in the field of Human Resources. Thereafter I graduated from Chartered Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka (CIPM) - which is the most sought-after qualification in Human Resources in Sri Lanka and pursued my higher studies to qualify in Master’s in business administration (MBA) from the University of Cardiff Metropolitan in 2015. In the interim I completed the Assessor Training Program by SHL Training academy in 2012 and International Public Management Association – Certified Professional (IPMA-CP) qualification in 2013. I have been an associate member of the Association of Human Resource Professionals for the last 10 years. 

My career kicked-off at ‘Expolanka Freight Pvt Ltd (EFL)’. I was able to gain my knowledge and experience in HR during my long tenure in EFL. Teamwork, standardization, diversity, working with a multi – ethnic workforce and world class customer service were areas I was able to grasp while working. I managed to climb up the career ladder as a Manager within a very short period of time with many recognitions. In hindsight, immense hard work led me to reach up the ladder and I allocated myself fully into gaining experience throughout the period at EFL. My experience in the initial management committee of EFL added leadership skills, critical thinking and decision-making experience to my profile. I was a part of the Productivity team, Green Committee, welfare team, CSR team and disaster management committee to improve service delivery of EFL and I was given the freedom to be innovative in event management and events were critically planned and organized in an effective manner during my tenure in EFL . Under the flagship company “EFL '' I was leading the HR function of 6 freight forwarding companies with 4 different CEO’s! Handling the HR function in such a competitive and stressful environment was not at all an easy task and I consider this a great achievement.

I was thereafter able to move to Royal Ceramic PLC (ROCELL) as a Senior Manager HR , overlooking the HR operation and as a part of the management team. My portfolio was to manage island wide showrooms (250+) and 5 manufacturing factories. I was fully involved in the HR function and implementing the software system to the group. Positive thinking, Ability in building networks, improving working capacity and efficiency, Critical thinking, Analytical skill, event organizing, teamwork, leadership skill, motivation, innovative thinking, fast learning ability and driving myself for a specific target are some of the characteristics which supported me to enhance my progress in ROCELL.

I am currently working as the Head, Human Resources since 2016 of the Sri Lanka office of a fully owned subsidiary of the world 7^th largest telecommunication tower infrastructure company, in Malaysia. I work as a HR generalist handling the overall HR scope of Sri Lanka. Our current Country Managing Director is one inspiring individual who leads the local team with high spirit and motivation. He is an inspiration for the younger generation and gives equal importance to having a vision and ability to convey that vision to his employees and get them excited about it, helping them stay motivated and engaged. He has inspired my journey further and fuels my ambition to succeed both as a professional and a career woman. In general, its game changing policies are the main reasons for the company to flourish and its employees to sustain. Employee wellbeing, staff developments, empowerment, working culture with high integrity, innovation thinking are some aspects.

I am able to gain global experience while working in this highly diversified company. I am exposed to work with 8 different countries to establish group wide policies, procedures, and processes which are led by the Group HR in Malaysia. A unique and deeply challenging experience I had was directly involving 2 large employee carve outs. These projects developed key strengths in me even though they were challenging, and I am happy to mention we were able to complete these projects on a very positive note. I am involved in CSR, Green initiatives, employee development, DEI initiatives and PMO duties apart from my role in HR. I was able to win the Championship Award in 2020 among the few privileged employees in the group. This is one great milestone of my career and even a landmark in my entire life.  

I believe my 20 years of HR journey through ups and downs in different industries were the reason for me to be in this position today. I’m a strong believer in work life balance. Hence, I have committed myself to spend my time with family and study global trends and enjoy the time. I’m not a lady who waits for motivation but drives myself to be self-motivated. I make sure that I work hard towards a better tomorrow. Time management, a healthy and happy lifestyle makes me motivated and ready to face challenges. 

However, life doesn’t stop at career and family for me. I like to leave the world a better place than I found it, and therefore I’m sponsoring a few kids from rural families/backgrounds for their education which overall inspires me and rekindles my fire to become stronger as a woman who can serve the community in a positive way!