Lilan Dayananda is a highly accomplished social tech entrepreneur, recognized internationally for his innovative contributions to the social impact sector. He has been named among the top ten Social Entrepreneurs of the Global South by the United Nations Youth Envoy’s Office, UNFPA, ITU, and UNDP Youth Co: Lab.

In 2022, Lilan became the only Sri Lankan recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Youth Award for excellence in development work. He was also nominated for the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust Youth Award in recognition of his extensive reach and profound impact on his community.

Lilan is featured in Ernst & Young's (EY) 2023 list of the top 100 meaningful businesses, alongside Hogan Lovells, Babson College, and the Meaningful Business Community, highlighting his work’s significance and impact.

A successful graduate of the Silicon Valley-based Founder Institute’s accelerator program, Lilan holds a Business Management (Special) Degree from the University of Kelaniya. He has earned over 600 course completion certificates, including 300+ from Coursera. Additionally, he is an ALS Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, and a Stanford Seed Spark Fellow.

Throughout his career, Lilan has led multiple award-winning social initiatives focused on food security, climate action, peace, and sustainability. One of his ventures developed the world’s first validated methodology for quantifying the human contribution to Primary Ecosystem Services. His ongoing work also aims to provide sustainable solutions to eradicate hunger in all its forms.

Lilan is the leading technology partner for the International Analog Forestry Network, where he collaborates closely with marginalized communities across 22 countries, including Costa Rica, Cameroon, Peru, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Through his initiatives, he reaches more than 100,000 marginalized farmers from diverse backgrounds, including various geographical locations, cultures, religions, income classes, races, and genders.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the community, Lilan Dayananda was exclusively invited to the 18th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Gangwon, South Korea, by the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.