HustleMemo
Portrait of Harry Jayawardena.

Harry Jayawardena

Tea trader turned magnate who took control of Sri Lanka’s liquor industry through DCSL and built the diversified Melstacorp group across hotels, dairy, plantations and banking.

Melstacorp / DCSL · Liquor, conglomerate, plantations, banking · est. 1977

Don Harold Stassen “Harry” Jayawardena (1942–2025). Began as a tea trader; headed the State Trading Corporation’s tea department in the 1970s; founded Stassen Exports in 1977. Acquired a controlling interest in the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka (DCSL) in 1992 — then the largest transaction on the Colombo Stock Exchange — and built a conglomerate (Melstacorp) spanning Aitken Spence, Lanka Milk Foods, plantations and bank stakes (HNB, DFCC). Executive chairman of SriLankan Airlines from 2008. Deshamanya (2005); Knight of the Order of Dannebrog (2010).

Notable achievements

  • Founded Stassen Exports (1977), a leading Ceylon tea exporter.
  • Acquired control of DCSL (1992) in the largest Colombo Stock Exchange transaction of its day.
  • Built the diversified Melstacorp group across liquor, hotels, dairy, plantations and banking.
  • Honoured as Deshamanya (2005) and Knight of the Order of Dannebrog (2010).

Find them online

Melstacorp

Stories about Harry Jayawardena

Harry Jayawardena, founder of Stassen Exports and controller of DCSL, subject of a case study on Sri Lankan industry.
industry16 min read

Harry Jayawardena: From Tea Trader to Empire-Builder

Harry Jayawardena rose from tea trader to master of Sri Lanka’s liquor industry via the landmark 1992 DCSL deal, building the diversified Melstacorp group. A sourced, critically neutral look at a genuine empire, the unproven press allegations about his combative reputation, and why his airline chairmanship must not be conflated with the later Airbus bribery scandal.

Harry Jayawardena