Leaders

Born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Ranmali grew up in a business family. Her grandfather established their family venture in the 1930s. Later expanded by her father into an export-import business. Her earliest memories include visiting ports, shops, and trade hubs, absorbing the rhythm of Sri Lanka’s commercial lifeline.

A defining moment came when she noticed business signboards repeatedly bearing ‘and Sons,’ including her own family business – P. D. Elaris & Sons. That realization sparked her resolve to carve out a space for women, her own name, identity, and enterprise.

From her mother, a teacher, she inherited a passion for education, learning, and developing people. Growing up during Sri Lanka’s challenging decades of the 1980s and 90s, she witnessed social turbulence, but also resilience, reinvention, and courage.

These experiences shaped her values: gender equity, continuous learning, national progress, and compassion-led entrepreneurship.

Before launching her company, Ranmali was mentored by renowned educator Mrs. Nirmali Hetiarachchi, helping her refine the craft of teaching and corporate training. She began her career as a university lecturer and later transitioned into freelance corporate training.

In 2018, after years of collaboration and friendship, she partnered with Fazla Razak to establish Butterfly Effect Training Partners, one of Sri Lanka’s first women-led training and coaching duos.

Their growth journey includes becoming ICF-certified transformative coaches, expanding into EdTech through global partnerships, and representing women entrepreneurs at multiple international forums.

Today, Ranmali stands as a meaningful example of purpose-driven leadership, building not just a business, but a movement accelerating human potential, equity, and change. Let’s hear more from her in this one-on-one interaction.

Introduce us to Butterfly Effect Training Partners. What is the core mission of the organization?

The name comes from the Butterfly Effect theory, the idea that a small movement can create a powerful chain reaction. That philosophy drives our work. At Butterfly Effect Training Partners, our mission is to spark meaningful transformation in individuals and organizations.

We focus on building strong communication, enhancing human capital, and delivering training that creates measurable business impact. Our work goes beyond traditional learning, every program is designed to be personalized, relevant, and aligned to industry and organizational culture.

Whether we are working with leaders, teams, or emerging talent, our goal is to unlock potential and accelerate growth with long-term, sustainable outcomes.

What are your primary roles and responsibilities as the Co-Founder? How do you balance between the company’s everyday operations and growth?

As Co-Founder, my role spans both vision and execution. Strategically, I focus on understanding market shifts, shaping direction, and making agile decisions rather than relying on rigid long-term plans.

At the operational level, I ensure our training programs meet learning objectives, content stays relevant, and client engagement remains ongoing through structured feedback and touchpoints.

Fazla and I also lead most of the training sessions ourselves to maintain consistency, quality, and leadership presence. Balancing both roles requires clarity, prioritization, and adaptability. Our strong repeat-client base since 2018 is a testament to this balance and our commitment to meaningful and consistent value delivery.

Entrepreneurship often comes with both opportunities and obstacles. What are some of the most significant challenges you have faced while growing Butterfly Effect Training Partners, and how did you overcome them?

When we started, corporate training was often misunderstood as just teaching, which created an identity challenge for us. Many organizations undervalued training, seeing it as a cost rather than an investment.

Other challenges included a lack of growth mindset among learners, difficulty finding skilled corporate trainers, and scaling the business without compromising quality. On top of that, we had to navigate limited funding, policy barriers, and Sri Lanka’s fluctuating economic and political climate.

Over time, these obstacles were gradually overcome as the culture shifted toward valuing continuous learning, coaching, and leadership development, helping us establish credibility and create meaningful, long-term impact for our clients.