Nishan Wijamanne: From Start up to Shiperoo!

From escaping civil war in Sri Lanka at just six years old, to building one of the most successful automation start-ups in Australia and New Zealand, Nishan Wijemanne has lived a business journey defined by resilience, reinvention and relentless curiosity.

In this episode, we trace Nishan’s extraordinary path — from his early years in Christchurch, to his foundational training at Dematic, one of the world’s largest logistics automation companies, and then to founding Cohesio Group. Cohesio quickly became a market leader, securing major clients such as The Reject Shop, Kmart and Wesfarmers’ Officeworks, and forging a groundbreaking partnership with Chinese robotics giant Geek+, before being acquired by German technology conglomerate Körber in 2019.

Nishan then teamed up again with long-time collaborator Rizan Mawzoon to launch Shiperoo in 2023 — a next-generation fulfilment and returns platform using robotics, automation and a modern tech stack to give retail brands an Amazon-level customer experience without becoming Amazon themselves. Today, Shiperoo is backed by Australia Post, and supported by industry leaders including John King, Paul Greenberg and Gary Starr.

We unpack the lessons Nishan learned building and selling Cohesio, the turning point that made him realise the returns economy was the next frontier of ecommerce logistics, and his views on the future of AI, automation and robotics in global supply chains.

Whether you’re in retail, ecommerce, logistics, robotics or leadership — or you simply enjoy stories of grit and ambition — this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.