The LakEssence three-leaf logo represents our three pillars
of excellence: natural, authentic and premium.
As one of the founders and Chief Scientific Officer for LakEssence, Udaya supports all customer research and development for nutraceuticals and functional foods and natural products.
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Justin leads the North America sales, marketing and product development team. He is the go-to for client needs and requirements for new product development and ingredient sourcing.
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Mahesh loves his role in overseeing quality assurance and procurement for LakEssence. He is most proud of the company’s commitment to introducing pure and high-quality herbal plant extracts to the world from Sri Lanka.
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Gayani takes care of business transactions on behalf of the organization, as well as company performance reports to management, and financial statements to shareholders, board of directors and other stakeholders.
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Sathira is in charge of the day to day activities of the organization and provides a vital link between director, board and management.
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She works directly with customers as an information source for products and as an educational resource so customers can learn about the diversity of resources in Sri Lanka.
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LakEssence started in 2017 when two college friends, Udaya Wanasundara, PhD and Ashoka Siriwardena reconnected at a Sri Lankan Trade mission. Over the years both men gained a great deal of valuable experience that would quickly frame LakEssence as an up-and-coming leader in the field of essential oils. Dr Udaya, who built a career as a leading researcher in nutraceutical oils, had a vision to share Sri Lanka’s bounty of botanical plants to the rest of the world. He would only agree to creating the purest essential oils on the market from botanicals grown on his home island. It was an important time to elevate the natural resources, beauty and the people of the island after many years of hardship from a civil war.
Through the help of enthusiastic and talented new hires, LakEssence quickly grew with the hiring of its first employees and began the process of transitioning from conventionally grown plants to certified organic. Today, LakEssence is proud to have KeyLeaf Life Sciences as their parent company, which is the ideal innovation partner for this exciting and evolving market. LakEssence now has a lengthy list of certified organic and other quality assurance certifications as well as good manufacturing approvals (GMP, Halal, Kosher, and USDA, JAS and EU Organic Certifications) for all its products. In an industry where quality is often set aside for profit, LakEssence customers appreciate that they can trust the quality and the purity of all their products.
Lakessence is proud to support the SISU SENEHASA Foundation. This collective effort focuses on helping less privileged children and students who are excelling in their education despite many hardships. This program is named “SISU SENEHASA” which means love and caring for students in Sinhalese language.
Visit Foundation WebsiteCelebrating its 5-year anniversary in 2020, the foundation supports Sri Lankan at-risk children by providing them with educational and life skills from grade six through university.
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We are glad you asked. It’s a common question from our happy customers. The word Lak is another name for Sri Lanka, which is derived from the word Lanka in the Sinhalese language. We combined Lak with the English word Essence to speak to the abundance of natural gifts, beauty, culture and diversity on the island of Sri Lanka.
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