Honorary Doctor of Business awarded to Dilmah’s Dilhan

Dilhan C. Fernando

The School of Business & Law at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Australia, recently honoured Dilmah Tea Chairman and Chief Executive Dilhan C. Fernando, with the award of Doctor of Business, Honoris Causa. 

This follows his appointment at the same seat of learning as Adjunct Professor of Practice in Sustainability, a role that Fernando has fulfilled for over a year. 

The ECU School of Business & Law is ranked within the top business schools in Australia (AFR BOSS Best Business Schools List 2024) and also listed in the top 300 universities worldwide for Business and Economics by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025.

The Honorary Doctor of Business award is a special signal that Dilhan’s impact on business in actual practice and by natural extension that of Dilmah Tea itself, has been deemed exemplary in terms of ethical leadership, social responsibility and sustainability. 

“You have forged an exceptional career as a respected businessman and community supporter with impressive contributions in your role as CEO and Chairman of Dilmah Tea. Your transformation of the organisation and its commitments have created a global exemplar of sustainable and ethical practices,” said Edith Cowan University Chancellor Gaye McMath.

That is the context of this award; a legacy bestowed on his children and grandchildren by the late Merrill J. Fernando, the family patriarch, who, unconcerned that the prevailing business philosophy was the pursuit of profit and market dominance at any cost, invested the family business with a deep concern for society and environment, nurtured in him from childhood by his parents. 

The profit of his business was seen, less as private gain and more as a resource to be deployed for public good. That is the principle which governs the Merrill J. Fernando Charitable Foundation and Dilmah Conservation, which annually benefit from endowments direct from the pre-tax profits of Dilmah Tea, Resplendent Ceylon and other companies within the MJF group.