AIA CFO Indika Prematunga, youngest winner of People Leaders’ Awards in Finance

AIA CFO Indika Prematunga

AIA’s CFO Indika Prematunga won this year’s Finance Leader Award at the IPM Sri Lanka People Leaders’ Awards, making him the youngest winner ever of this award. 

Indika’s story is one with successes etched onto it right from the start. A product of one of Matara’s leading schools Rahula College, he was placed fourth in the island in the Commerce stream at the 1996 A/L examinations. Thereafter he secured a first Class Honours (BSA – Accounting and Finance) from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. 

Moving from Matara to Colombo to build his career proved to be full of big opportunities for Indika as he racked up 15 years of experience in some of Colombo’s largest corporates. Having worked as a trainee at a telecom company during university, he left the company as a fully-fledged accountant. “I still remember, when I was a trainee, I was given the task of urgently dispatching 60,000 customer letters in just one day…this was a massive job considering the work involved from printing to data basing, delivery etc and it really taught me to deal with demanding tasks and high pressure deadlines,” mused Indika. 

Studying and working was a way of life for Indika and it helped him over the years to get a career head start, becoming ‘the youngest’ achiever in many forums. Most notably, he was Group CFO of one of Sri Lanka’s largest shipping companies at the age of 27 and then CFO of one of the country’s largest Public Quoted Insurers by the age of 30.  

He is also renowned for his creative and innovative approach to finance management, with credit for developing an Excel based amortization schedule, during the start of his career. In fact, Indika’s profile runs into pages of academic and professional qualifications. But what he is most known for at AIA is his enthusiasm to develop and support people performance, while motivating and mentoring career development. 

A committed family man, Indika prides in maintaining and encouraging a healthy work life balance, “I love spending time with my wife and two kids and believe in the importance of family time to have a balanced career. That is why I encourage my team to manage their time and ensure they also make time for their family.” 

Though a high flying corporate big shot, he always finds time to give back to his roots in the South and prioritises making time to mentor students from his old school. He also holds an annual career guidance seminar for CIMA students in Matara. 

“Indika’s personal success echoes a real life story that definitely impacts AIA’s success,” said AIA CEO Shah Rouf, adding “We have no doubt he will climb greater heights and we wish him the very best.”