Leadership that connects policy, technology, data and communities

Managing Director, Carbonix Limited

Saiyad Omar Zain Mowlana

Omar began his career as an Industrial Engineer with Sri Lanka’s leading can-manufacturing company, gaining practical experience in production planning, workforce management, productivity improvement and employee relations. He provided operational leadership for more than 300 employees and participated in successful trade union negotiations on work standardisation and remuneration.

Solutions cannot simply be transferred unchanged from one country to another.

He later joined the Management Services Division of the Textile Training and Services Centre, established by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Textile Industries with technical support from UNDP and UNIDO. Working alongside international experts, including specialists supported by the Canadian International Development Agency, he undertook management consultancy, training, feasibility analysis and productivity improvement assignments across the textile sector. He also helped establish a diploma programme to strengthen professional management capability within the industry.

Omar subsequently led a World Bank-funded US$10 million modernisation study for Thulhiriya Textile Mills, then the largest integrated textile plant in South Asia, and conducted feasibility, cost-benefit and productivity studies for public and private-sector organisations.

As Director of Project Development for the USAID-supported Technology Initiative for the Private Sector, Omar was responsible for attracting more than 1,000 private-sector organisations during its first two years. Working with businesses, banks, chambers of commerce, trade associations, the media and international technology providers, the project’s initiatives led to improvements in productivity, employment generation and exports, exceeding its original expectations.

Omar later served as Head of the Management Division at the Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance, under the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government. He led national capacity building initiatives for all nine Provincial Councils and approximately 330 local authorities. He also managed the European Commission-funded Managing Information for Local Environment in Sri Lanka (MILES) Project, implemented with the cities of Munich and Vitoria-Gasteiz. Its success led to United Nations invitations to present the initiative at international conferences in Barcelona and Havana.

For nearly nine years, Omar served as the Commonwealth Secretariat’s principal thematic adviser on Human Resource Management and Public Sector Leadership Development. He designed and coordinated pan-Commonwealth, regional and country-specific programmes across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Pacific.

This experience shaped a principle central to Carbonix’s approach: solutions cannot simply be transferred unchanged from one country to another. Before implementing initiatives, Omar examined each country’s political economy, governance arrangements, socioeconomic conditions, institutional capacity, resources and cultural sensitivities. Combined with stakeholder consultation and needs assessments, this helped ensure that programmes were locally relevant, practical and sustainable.

Omar contributed to Sri Lanka’s national Roadmap for Disaster Risk Management, prepared for the Ministry of Disaster Management with UNDP support, and participated in post-tsunami reconstruction and early-warning learning initiatives.

As a consultant to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health, he completed a WHO-supported review of government healthcare resource allocation to the provinces, which was formally published. He also conducted a World Bank funded study on violence against women in collaboration with Sri Lanka’s then Inspector General of Police.

Throughout his career, Omar has undertaken assignments involving the World Bank, UNDP, WHO, JICA, USAID, the European Commission, UN-Habitat, UN-ESCAP, GTZ, DFID and UNIDO. As Managing Director of Carbonix, he builds partnerships that combine international expertise with the knowledge and capabilities of national institutions and local communities, ensuring that solutions address genuine local needs.

Lead – Community Training and Capacity Building, Sri Lanka

S. Sumanasiri

S. Sumanasiri is a senior development professional with more than 40 years of experience in community mobilisation, participatory development, sustainable development, disaster-risk reduction, municipal waste management, capacity building and donor-funded programme coordination. As Carbonix’s Lead for Community Training and Capacity Building in Sri Lanka, he will guide the design and delivery of programmes that enable communities, local institutions and frontline stakeholders to prepare for risks, strengthen resilience and participate actively in local development initiatives.

Carbonix’s disaster-resilience and environmental initiatives are not limited to introducing technical systems.

Throughout his career, Sumanasiri has worked closely with rural and urban communities, local authorities, government departments, universities, schools, NGOs and community-based organisations. His experience extends from grassroots programme delivery to the management of national and regional initiatives involving UN agencies, the World Bank, UNESCO, international NGOs and government institutions.

A central strength of his work is his ability to convert technical and policy objectives into practical programmes that communities can understand, apply and sustain. He has extensive experience in participatory rural appraisal, community-based project planning, Training of Trainers, institutional strengthening, stakeholder consultation, monitoring and evaluation, and the preparation of training manuals and educational resources.

Sumanasiri previously served as Director of Training and Administration at TRIPD Lanka Consultancy, where he led training in participatory development planning and community-based project design. He delivered capacity-building programmes for local-government officers, NGO personnel and community leaders, while supporting project formulation and institutional development.

His disaster-management experience includes community-based disaster-risk management, disaster preparedness and public awareness. While working with the Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO in Japan, he managed regional cooperation programmes covering disaster awareness, education, culture and sustainable development across the Asia-Pacific region.

As Head of Sarvodaya’s ICT for Development programme, he helped establish and expand Village Information Centres across Sri Lanka and delivered training in digital literacy, information access and community knowledge systems. This experience is particularly relevant to ensuring that early-warning information and preparedness guidance reach communities through accessible and locally appropriate channels.

His environmental experience includes leading an action-research project on municipal waste management and the use of Effective Microorganisms for composting. The initiative introduced waste-to-compost solutions in urban vegetable markets, supporting resource recovery and improved environmental management.

As Project Manager of a World Bank-supported Clean Settlement Programme, Sumanasiri managed one of six national pilot projects focused on improving low-income settlements, basic services and community-led infrastructure management. He later managed a multi-district programme supporting marginalised and vulnerable communities, including persons with disabilities, older people and users of mental-health services.

Sumanasiri currently serves as Chief Project Coordinator of a multi-province programme led by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, in collaboration with the University of Toronto, the Faculties of Medicine of the Universities of Ruhuna and Jaffna, and the relevant Provincial Departments of Education. Operating across the Galle, Jaffna and Colombo Districts, the programme focuses on adolescent leadership, personal development and social responsibility.

He has also served as an external faculty member and visiting lecturer at the Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance and as a visiting lecturer at the National Institute of Social Development. At Carbonix, his role will include supporting training-needs assessments, developing locally appropriate materials, preparing community trainers, facilitating awareness and preparedness programmes, and strengthening coordination between communities, local authorities, schools, NGOs and relevant government institutions.

His contribution will help ensure that Carbonix’s disaster-resilience and environmental initiatives are not limited to introducing technical systems. They will also build the local knowledge, confidence, institutional relationships and community ownership required for those systems to work effectively and remain sustainable over the long term.

Lead – Technology and Digital Systems

Seyedh Mohammadh Mawshook Rifai Mowlana

Seyedh Mohammadh Mawshook Rifai Mowlana leads Carbonix’s technology and digital-systems work. He is responsible for the design, coordination and quality of the digital platforms, early-warning architecture and specialist technical partnerships that allow institutions to plan, monitor and act in time.

His role connects technology with institutional process. Carbonix does not treat digital systems as stand-alone products. Mawshook leads the work that turns data, alerts and operational information into tools that ministries, local authorities, emergency services and community partners can use.

He oversees the technical direction of multi-hazard early-warning arrangements, dashboards, databases and last-mile communication design, and brings in specialist engineering and technology partners where a defined technical discipline is required. The objective is a system that can be owned, operated and improved by national and local institutions.