Changing mindsets

Randhula De Silva, CEO of Hatch and Director of GIZ, is a disrupter at her core. And she’s just get ting started.

- SHIHAAM  HASSANALI

Everything you do in life adds up to who you are today,” Randhula De Silva says thoughtfully. I’m seated next to her on a comfy couch in the lounge area of Hatch Colombo, chatting about her very colorful professional background. She tells me there have been a few instances where her life has changed. “I’ve always wanted to give back to society and do something impactful and meaningful in life. I think it’s a complexity that millennials feel! University exposed me to people of various ethnicities and faiths, and it was a good eyeopening experience. It made me want to do more work with communities.”

Right after university, Randhula joined Verité Research as the Head of Information Intelligence Services, working on a signature product called Media Analysis. “We looked at the differences between Sinhala, English and Tamil media (because the media portrays one incident in 3 distinct ways), how this affects the local dynamic and what the underlying intentions are of the media,” Randhula explains. “I was 24-years-old and to be amongst so many researchers and analysts on this project gave me an in-depth understanding of society’s structure and functions.”