Dulith Herath

Dulith Herath is a Sri Lankan serial entrepreneur.^[3][4][5] He is the founder and chairman of the Sri Lankan e-commerce platform Kapruka.com.(CSE: KPHL),^[6][7][8] Java Lounge^[9] and the co-founder of Grasshoppers Pvt. Ltd. which provides logistics to small enterprises in Sri Lanka.^[10]

Dulith Herath
Alma mater	Royal College, Colombo University of Kentucky
Occupation	Serial entrepreneur
Known for	Kapruka.com, Java Lounge, Grasshoppers [1][2]

Early life and career

Dulith was born in Colombo. He did his schooling at Royal College, Colombo.^[11][12] Dulith graduated from the University of Kentucky.

Herath founded Kapruka.com in February 2002.^[13][14][15] In 2012, Herath launched the local coffeehouse chain Java Lounge.^[16][17] In 2016, Herath along with Harsha Liyanage started logistics provider Grasshoppers Pvt. Ltd.^{[18][19][20][21]}

He received the Asia-Pacific Young Entrepreneur Award in 2013.^{[22][23][24][25][26]}

In 2017, Herath received an Eisenhower Fellowship in the United States.^[27]

Controversies

In September 2017, Dulith came under criticism for remarks he 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.^[28][29]

In March 2020, Sri Lanka’s Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) raided Kapruka.com during the COVID-19 curfew, alleging that some essential items were priced above government-set maximum retail prices (MRPs).^[30][31] Dulith Herath later apologised, saying it was a mistake that had been corrected.^[32][33] The following month, the Sunday Times reported that Kapruka had refunded about LKR 1.5 million to affected customers.^[34] In May 2020, customers complained about Kapruka selling low quality Mother's Day gifts Including spoiled or near-expired products.^[35]