Suresh de Mel is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics & Statistics of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. His research focuses on small-scale enterprises in Sri Lanka using randomized field experimentation methods. This includes examining the rate of return to capital in microenterprises, the post-disaster recovery process of microenterprises, the measurement of profits in microenterprises, the effect of formal registration on the economic performance of small informal enterprises, the effect of business training on existing and potential female microenterprises, and the growth dynamics of male microenterprises following labour, capital and training interventions. He holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from American University, Washington DC.