Founders · Sri Lanka

Bemal Gamage started Beverlee Holdings with LKR 60,000. It has now delivered more than 70 projects

He washed dishes in Melbourne to avoid burdening his parents, came home when his mother fell ill, and lost money on a clothing business. In 2012 he registered a design-and-build company with his savings. Beverlee Holdings now works across Sri Lanka and Dubai with a team of more than 50.

By Catalist Media · First published on our channels in July 2026

The story

Bemal Gamage grew up in Colombo, the youngest of three, and liked building things from the start. He went to Royal College and then to RMIT University in Australia to study marketing and management. His parents were paying, but he did not want to lean on them, so he took the first job he could find: kitchen hand. He had barely washed a plate in his life. He learned. Later he moved into marketing operations at a call centre for a hospitality company.

His degree was interrupted when his mother became ill and he returned to Sri Lanka. He transferred his credits and finished through Northwood University in the United States, then took an MBA at Middlesex University, where property development became the subject of his thesis.

The first business back home was clothing, and it did not work. He counted it as worth doing anyway: trying and failing beat never trying. He worked for a time with his uncle, then in apartment consulting, and after a disagreement he resigned with nothing lined up. His parents wanted the safe nine-to-five. He wanted to build something that served his own vision, and he decided not to ask them for capital.

What he saw in post-war Sri Lanka was a gap in how buildings got built. A client had to find an architect, then a structural engineer, then a quantity surveyor, then a contractor, and coordinate all of them. For Sri Lankans living overseas who wanted to build at home, it was close to impossible. One trusted point of contact would change that.

Beverlee Holdings started in 2012 with about LKR 60,000 in savings, enough to register a private limited company, and a team of five. Bemal was supervisor, marketer and accountant at once. The model was design-and-build: one organisation taking a project from architectural planning through engineering, construction and finishing to the day the client moves in. As the company grew it added a second line of business, buying land, developing it and selling the finished properties.

The test came with the economic crisis, which stalled construction across the country. Beverlee Holdings chose to finish its clients' projects rather than walk away, and the company says that decision is where its reputation comes from. Today it has delivered more than 70 residential and commercial projects across Sri Lanka and Dubai, with a team of more than 50 architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and construction professionals.

Timeline

• ColomboYoungest of three, Royal College, and a childhood fascination with construction.
• AustraliaMarketing and management at RMIT. First job: kitchen hand. Then marketing operations at a call centre.
• Back to Sri LankaReturns when his mother falls ill, finishes his degree through Northwood University, later an MBA at Middlesex University.
• First attemptsA clothing business fails. Time with his uncle's business, then apartment consulting, then resignation after a disagreement.
• 2012Beverlee Holdings registered with about LKR 60,000 in savings and a team of five.
• GrowthDesign-and-build clients, then the company's own property developments. Projects in Sri Lanka and Dubai.
• Economic crisisThe company completes client projects rather than abandoning them.
• 2026More than 70 projects delivered, a team of more than 50.

Beverlee Holdings in numbers

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