Deshamanya Deshamanya (; ; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a civil honour. It is awarded for "''highly meritorious service''", and is conventionally used as a title or prefi ...

Mahesh Amalean (born 4 April 1955) is a Sri Lankan engineer and industrialist. He is the current Chairman of

MAS Holdings MAS Holdings is a Sri Lankan apparel manufacturer. The company was founded in 1987 by Mahesh, Sharad and Ajay Amalean. MAS Holdings began as an underwear manufacturer and later diversified into sportswear, performance wear and swimwear. MAS Ho ...

Early life and education

Amalean was born to parents with

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

ancestry,. his father was in the family textile business. He studied at

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Si ...

and graduated from Regional Engineering College, Tiruchirappalli (now known as

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli The National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli (NIT-Tiruchirappalli or NIT-Trichy) is a National university, national research university, research deemed university near the city of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded as ...

) with a

BTech A Bachelor of Technology (BTech) is an undergraduate degree that is awarded for a higher education program in engineering. Countries Australia In Australia, the Bachelor of Technology degree is offered by RMIT University, Edith Cowan Univ ...

degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

Career

Returning to Sri Lanka in 1978 Amalean took up the family businesses. Thereafter he started a manufacturing company with his brothers named Sigma Industries which began operations in

Ratmalana Ratmalana is a suburb in Colombo District, Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is inside the administration boundary of Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council. Ratmalana is situated 14.6 km south of Colombo city centre. Ratmalana Airport loca ...

, in August 1985. Moving into the apparel industry he founded MAS Holdings which is a leader in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka catering to major brands such as

Victoria’s Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford graduate student and his wife, Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner in 1982. Wexner rapidly expand ...

. For his contribution to Sri Lankan industry in 2005 he was conferred with the title of

by the government of Sri Lanka. In 2011, The Open University of Sri Lanka conferred an honorary doctorate (honoris causa) to Mahesh in recognition of his contribution to the country. Amalean is also one of the five global business leaders recognised with a UN Award at the WEP’s inaugural Leadership Awards presentation where he received the award for Cultural Change for Empowerment. He is also the recipient of the CNBC-IIFA Global Leadership Award and is ranked amongst the Top 20 Progressive Asian Leaders by the World Business Magazine. In 2017, he won Global Businessman award of

Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year (Sinhala: අද දෙරණ වසරේ ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයා) is an annual award presented to Sri Lankans who have raised Sri Lanka's profile in the international arena through their care ...

References

External links

INTERVIEW: Mahesh Amalean, chairman MAS Holdings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amalean, Mahesh Sri Lankan businesspeople Sri Lankan engineers Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Living people Sri Lankan Hindus 1955 births Sri Lankan people of Indian descent Place of birth missing (living people) National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli alumni Deshamanya