Asantha Wijeyeratne has spent over 25 years doing one thing. Helping small business owners stop dreading payday.
With a background in accounting and a healthy obsession with making tech actually work for real people, Asantha has built and scaled some of New Zealand’s most successful payroll businesses. Most notably, he was the driving force behind SmartPayroll (now Smartly), growing it to serve close to 10,000 small businesses before founding PaySauce.
PaySauce was built for business owners who do everything themselves. The cafe owner juggling rostering and rent. The farmer managing seasonal workers in the middle of harvest. The retailer trying to get Friday payroll done before the weekend rush. Asantha gets it because he’s spent his entire career sitting across the table from them.
His approach has always been people first, tech second. Build something simple. Make it work. Make sure someone picks up the phone when it doesn’t.
In 2013, he was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal for his contribution to business and the community in New Zealand, one of the country’s highest civilian honours. He was also a finalist in Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021.
These days, Asantha is focused on bringing PaySauce to Australia, starting with the industries that need it most. Hospitality, agriculture and retail.