CMO for Asia Pacific, NAMET and Africa at Upfield and Global Marketing Head for Child Nutrition and Heart of Life Platforms
Kosala currently serves as a Global Marketing Head and CMO for Asia Pacific, NAMET and Africa for Upfield (the number one plant-based company globally, in 90 countries, and is famous for brands like Flora, BlueBand, Proactive and Rama).
He has over 22 years of rich and diverse experiences in multinationals (Unilever & Upfield) across different geographies from Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Turkey, and the Netherlands. He has fortunate to have worked in Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East and LATAM, and in different categories, namely home care, personal care and foods, global, regional, and local roles. Before moving to consumer-packaged goods, he was an investment banker and specialized in mega infrastructure projects.
Kosala carries extensive experience in strategy and execution, coupled with business transformation, turnaround, market development and building purpose-driven brands. His passion is to make winning elite high-performance teams with inclusivity and diversity. Before his current role, Kosala was the chief marketing officer for Asia, Africa and the Middle East in Unilever’s Spreading, Cooking and Baking business. He has successfully spearheaded a business transformation in each of his roles while unlocking sustainable growth and brand purpose. He has a strong track record of insightful breakthrough innovations and rolling out across globally. Kosala is a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA & GCMA) and Chartered Marketer (FCIM-UK). He also holds a Commonwealth Executive MBA, MSc in Digital Leadership (UK), Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing (UK), and a Postgraduate in Digital Marketing (UK). He was an active member at CIMA (Sri Lanka), served as an education board member for UNISA (South Africa) and has over ten years of lecturing experience at the CIMA & CIM strategic level. Kosala is a Sri Lankan based in Amsterdam. He enjoys reading, martial arts, cross-fit and mentoring start-up founders and emerging young leaders across geographies outside of work.