Dhanika Perera is a change-making Serial Entrepreneur, the Chief Executive Officer of Bhasha & the Founder of Sri Lankan software products; ‘Helakuru’, ‘PayHere’ & ‘HelaPay’. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science & Engineering from University of Moratuwa & a Masters degree in Business Administration at University of Sri Jayawardanapura.

He accidentally converted from an Engineer to Entrepreneur in 2011 while studying for his bachelor’s degree, due a passionate innovation he developed to support Sinhala language on Mobiles. Today that Innovation is empowering 10 Million+ Sri Lankans to write Sinhala digitally as a well-known brand ‘Helakuru’. Later he also challenged the status quo of Online payments in Sri Lanka by introducing ‘PayHere’ as Sri Lanka’s first Central Bank approved Payment Aggregator platform, enabling Online payments for 3500+ local businesses.

As an Innovator he won mBillionth South Asian Award in 2011 followed by multiple global & local recognitions including e-Swabhimani & NBQSA for his innovations. As an Entrepreneur he has been recognized as the Emerging Entrepreneur, the Emerging ICT Leader & The Most Innovative ICT Entrepreneur of the Year by University of Moratuwa, CSSL & SLASSCOM. In 2019, he was recognized as an ‘Iron Soul’ by the Government of Sri Lanka for his change making contribution towards the Digital Empowerment of the country & in 2021, he was recognized as an Outstanding Young Sri Lankan Role Model for his inspirational entrepreneurial journey.