By Dr. Wu Ping and Dr. Xingcai Zhang (Dr. Tea), WTeaO.org

Janaki Kuruppu, Sri Lanka Director of World Tea Organization (WTeaO.org), Chairperson Mother Sri Lanka. She is the first female Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Tea Board from 2011-2014.

Janaki Kuruppu took over the helm of the apex body for the regulation of the Sri Lanka tea industry as its first female Chairperson in December 2011. Under her leadership, the Sri Lanka Tea Board went through a revolutionary change in structure, facilities, employee training and motivation and the overall approach to its role as the regulator and facilitator of the tea industry. Under her regulation, renaissance in Ceylon Tea with the year 2013 breaking all records and the 2014 figures just released surpassing even that of 2013, recording the highest ever export earnings of Rs. 213.31 billion ($ 1.65 billion) which is a 6.6% growth over 2013 and a FOB price of Rs. 649.44 per kg, which is a 4.1% growth over 2013 which were all records for the 147 year old history of the Sri Lankan tea industry. The record breaking streak did not end with just these statistics; the industry also recorded the highest proportion of value added tea recording 65.2% of the total exports which is the highest for any tea exporting country. With these high volumes and values of exports, Sri Lankan tea exports reached the number 2 rank among global tea exporters by mid-2014. These commendable results were achieved through a joint effort of the industry and all other stakeholder institutions in the tea industry spearheaded by the Sri Lanka Tea Board as the apex body of the industry.

Janaki Kuruppu`s academic background is a PhD in Value chain development and Food security. Her career in Sri Lanka started as an entrepreneur when she co-founded a market research agency in 1994 which finally became a part of the world’s most prestigious research conglomerate ACNielsen in 2002. Then she joined one of Sri Lanka’s leading Food & Beverage and Retail companies in the country, Cargills Ceylon as the Group Director – Strategic Planning & Business Development. In 2010, she was appointed to the honorary position of the only Asian Steering Committee Member of AgriFin, a joint project by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank for Agriculture financing in her personal capacity.

After completing almost 19 years in the Private sector, 5 years in the USA and 14 years in Sri Lanka, she then undertook an Advisory role in the Public Sector since January 2008, in order to make a direct contribution to nation building. Within just 7 years in the Public sector, she founded the Mother Sri Lanka Trust, which is a charitable movement to build positive thinking about the country, guided the cabinet sub-committee on Food Security and Cost of Living, was appointed as the first Chairperson of Regional Development Bank where she was instrumental in merging 6 regional banks with over 250 branches and 2500 staff into one national level bank and also held the position of the first female Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Tea Board from 2011-2014. For more information about our advisors, directors, board members and collaborations, please feel free to contact [email protected] or http://wteao.org/contact/.

檟娜姬-苦如菩，世界茶叶组织 (WTeaO.org)斯里兰卡方负责人

檟娜姬-苦如菩，世界茶叶组织 (WTeaO.org)斯里兰卡方负责人，“斯里兰卡母亲”主席，同时也是斯里兰卡茶叶委员会第一位女主席，任职于2011-2014年。

2011 年 12 月，檟娜姬-苦如菩作为第一位女主席掌管了斯里兰卡茶业的最高监管机构。在她的领导下，斯里兰卡茶叶委员会在结构、设施、员工培训与激励以及委员会作为茶产业监管者和推动者的整体方针等方面发生了革命性的变化。在她的调控下，2013年锡兰茶复兴，打破了之前所有纪录。2014年的数据更是超过2013年：历史最高出口收益2133.1亿卢比 （16.5亿美元），同比增长6.6%；离岸价格649.44卢比/公斤，同比增长4.1%，均是斯里兰卡147年茶业历史上的最高纪录。连破纪录并不仅仅只是这些数据，斯里兰卡茶叶出口额也达到新高，占出口总额的65.2%，在所有茶叶出口国中占比最高。由于高出口量和出口额，斯里兰卡的茶叶出口在2014年中期在全球茶叶出口国中攀升至第二位。这些傲人成绩的取得，是在产业监管者斯里兰卡茶叶委员会的带领下，通过茶产业以及所有其他与茶产业利益相关机构的共同努力的结果。

檟娜姬-苦如菩是价值链开发和食品安全博士，她在斯里兰卡的事业是作为一名企业家开始的。她于1994年与人共同创办了一家市场研究机构，该机构在 2002 年成为世界上最负盛名的研究集团尼尔森的一部分。然后她加入了斯里兰卡著名餐饮和零售公司之一的Cargills Ceylon，作为集团董事负责战略规划与业务发展。2010 年，她以个人能力被授予AgriFin唯一的亚洲督导委员会委员这一荣誉职务，这是由比尔和梅林达•盖茨基金会与世界银行为农业融资的一个联合项目。

她在私营部门工作了近 19 年，其中5年在美国，14年在斯里兰卡。为了能为国家建设作出直接贡献，从2008年开始，她又在公共部门承担顾问角色。在公共部门任职的7年时间里，她创办了“母亲斯里兰卡”，这是建立对国家的积极思考并引导内阁小组委员会关注食品安全和国民生活消费的慈善运动。她被任命为区域发展银行的第一主席，对于将超过 250个分支机构和 2500位员工的6家区域银行合并成一个国家级银行起着重要作用。同时，在2011-2014年，她还担任了斯里兰卡茶叶委员会主席，是该委员会的第一位女主席。

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