Asoka Hettigoda, Ayurveda Ratna

The Group today encompasses Hettigoda Industries (Pvt) Ltd, Siddhalepa Ayurveda Hospital (Pvt) Ltd, Siddhalepa Ayurveda Health Resort (Pvt) Ltd, Hettigoda City (Pvt) Ltd, Siddhalepa Ayurveda Herbals (Pvt) Ltd, Siddhalepa Export (Pvt) Ltd, Siddhalepa Plantations (Pvt) Ltd, Hettigoda Distributors (India) Ltd, Siddhalepa Ayurveda GmbH in Germany and Siddhalepa Ayurveda s.r.o. in the Czech Republic.

Siddhalepa has played an important role in taking Sri Lankan Ayurveda to international markets. The company began exporting its products to Germany, the United States and Japan as early as 1982 and subsequently expanded its Ayurveda wellness services into Europe and the Maldives. Dedicated companies were established in Germany, the Czech Republic and India to strengthen the Group’s international presence and promote authentic Sri Lankan Ayurvedic products and services overseas.

The Group has also been at the forefront of developing Ayurveda-based medical and wellness tourism in Sri Lanka. Its operations include a full-service Ayurveda hospital with specialist consultants, Ayurveda resorts and wellness facilities catering to both local and international guests. In 2017, the Group opened Anarva Mount Lavinia, a 100-room property designed to support the longer-term Ayurveda and wellness requirements of international travelers.

 

Leadership in Tourism and Business

In November 2025, Mr. Hettigoda was elected President of The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL), having previously served as its Vice President during 2009–2015 and again from 2018–2025. THASL is the principal industry body representing Sri Lanka’s hotel sector, with a membership spanning major local and international hotel brands, resorts, boutique properties and heritage hotels across the country.

He also served as President of the Sri Lanka–German Business Council from 2023 to 2025, following two years as Vice President and more than two decades as a Committee Member. He currently serves as Immediate Past President of the Council, continuing his contribution towards strengthening trade, investment and commercial relations between Sri Lanka and Germany.

His other continuing professional engagements include serving as a Founder Member and Member of the Governing Council of the Institute of Chartered Professional Managers of Sri Lanka and as a Director of the Responsible Tourism Partnership, an organization supporting sustainable and community-based tourism development.

 

Contribution to National Institutions and Public Policy

Throughout his career, Mr. Hettigoda has contributed extensively to national economic, tourism, trade and education policy through appointments to numerous government, academic and private-sector institutions.

He served as President of the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2012, after previously serving as Vice President, Secretary and Committee Member. He also chaired the Chamber’s Exporters Committee for more than a decade.

His public-sector and national appointments have included membership of the President’s Tourism Advisory Committee, with responsibility for the wellness tourism sector; the National Trade Policy Committee of the Ministry of Trade and Commerce; the Export Development Board Advisory Committee on the Professional Services Sector; and the National Council for Economic Development, where he served as Co-Chairman of the Non-Traditional Export Cluster.

He has also served as a Director of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Director of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies, President of the BIMSTEC Chamber of Commerce, and Vice President of the Sri Lanka–Africa and Middle East Business Council.

His contribution to higher education and professional development includes service on the Boards of Management of the University of Colombo, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and its Postgraduate Institute of Management. From 2011 to 2026, he also served as a Visiting Lecturer at the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

International Trade and Diplomacy

Mr. Hettigoda has represented Sri Lanka extensively at international business, trade and investment forums and has participated in numerous official delegations led by Heads of State, Ministers and senior government representatives.

He was a member of President Maithripala Sirisena’s Trade and Investment Delegation to Bangladesh in 2017 and to Germany and Austria in 2016. He has also participated in business delegations to the Czech Republic and several other international markets.

As President of the National Chamber of Commerce, he led pioneering Sri Lankan business delegations to Vietnam and Myanmar, holding discussions with senior government leaders and business representatives to promote trade and investment. He has also represented Sri Lanka at UNESCAP and BIMSTEC business forums and participated in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Business Forum in Sri Lanka, where he was among the Sri Lankan speakers addressing an international business audience.

 

Education and Early Career

Mr. Hettigoda received his undergraduate education at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA, graduating in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Artificial Intelligence with a minor in Business Studies.

Following graduation, he joined Price Waterhouse in Chicago, where he worked in the Management Consulting Services Division from 1990 to 1995.
He also holds an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Managers of Sri Lanka.

 

Honours and Recognition

In recognition of his contribution to Ayurveda, business and professional leadership, Mr. Hettigoda has received numerous national and international honours.

In November 2019, he was conferred the title “Ayurveda Ratna” at the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Indian Traditional Sciences, in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the advancement of Ayurveda. He also received an Award of Recognition and Honour at the Houses of Parliament, United Kingdom, recognizing dedicated global service to Ayurveda across six generations of the Hettigoda family.

He was named among LMD’s Top 100 Sri Lankan Business People in 2019 and was inducted into the publication’s 2020 “Captains of Business” Hall of Fame, recognizing leading figures from Sri Lanka’s corporate and professional community. He had previously been included in LMD’s 2018 A-List of Sri Lanka’s Top 50 Business People.

In 2022, he was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Managers of Sri Lanka, in 2024 was featured among leading Sri Lankan CEOs in The CEO Global – Transforming Business Models, published by the National Institute of Business Management and was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for the Whole Island by the Ministry of Justice, Sri Lanka, in 2000.

Through his leadership of the Hettigoda Group, his work in tourism and international trade, and his contribution to national institutions, Mr. Hettigoda has remained committed to advancing Sri Lankan Ayurveda, responsible tourism, international business and professional management, while carrying forward a family legacy in Ayurveda that spans six generations.