Dulith Herath

Dulith Herath is a Sri Lankan serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of Sri Lankan e-commerce platform Kapruka.com (CSE: KPHL), Java Lounge and a co-founder of Grasshoppers Pvt. Ltd.

Early life and career Dulith Herath was born in Colombo. He received his schooling at Royal College, Colombo. Herath graduated from the University of Kentucky.

Herath founded Kapruka.com in February 2002. In 2012, Herath launched Sri Lankan coffeehouse chain Java Lounge. In 2016, Herath along with Harsha Liyanage founded logistics provider Grasshoppers Pvt. Ltd, which provides logistics to small enterprises in Sri Lanka.

He received the Asia-Pacific Young Entrepreneur Award in 2013. In 2017, Herath received an Eisenhower Fellowship in the United States.

Controversies

In September 2017, Herath came under criticism for remarks made at a forum organised by the Daily FT and the Colombo University MBA Alumni Association. Herath argued that rising volumes of small e-commerce parcels ordered from platforms such as Alibaba and eBay should be better controlled “at the post office level” to ensure “fair trade” for local sellers.

In March 2020, Sri Lanka’s Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) raided Kapruka.com during the COVID-19 pandemic, alleging that some essential items were priced above government-set maximum retail prices (MRPs). Herath later apologised, saying it was a mistake that had been corrected. The following month, the Sunday Times reported that Kapruka had refunded about LKR 1.5 million to affected customers. In May 2020, customers complained about Kapruka selling low quality Mother's Day gifts, including spoiled or near-expired products.