Sri Lanka's Silva linings

With recent terrorist atrocities threatening to slow down both investment and consumer interest in Sri Lanka, Dr. Nirmal De Silva, one of the nation’s leading real estate figures, explains why he remains optimistic about the future.

- Jonathan Evans

Before he became a real-estate entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, investor, and lover of fine wine, Nirmal De Silva was a prodigious scholar. The Sri Lankan’s extensive Australian studies saw him become a stellar student of business management at Monash University in Melbourne, and Perth’s Edith Cowan University, as well as a qualified accountant.

The Colombo-based polymath’s academic excellence and business acumen led to him becoming one of Sri Lanka’s leading lights in real estate in the 21st century. Also a business consultant whose focus ranges from sales and marketing to product management and operations, he has worked across dozens of companies in South Asia and Asia-Pacific.

Most notably in Sri Lanka, Dr. De Silva was, until 2017, the country manager for Regus, a flexible workspace provider which operates in more than 120 countries — a turning point in his career of which he remains “humbly proud”.

As an entrepreneur “driven by the vision of creating value to clients through innovation, strong international partnerships and bespoke service delivery,” he now founded and now acts as CEO for Paramount Realty. The company provides advisory services to local and international clients in the commercial, residential, retail and mixed-development segments of real estate. Meanwhile, his deep involvement in the market — “identifying industry trends and opportunities is my forte,” he says — extends to founding TYNA Consulting, a boutique real-estate development company which invests in SMEs, start-ups and social enterprises.