Rilwan Shareef

Rilwan Shareef was a Maldivian finance official and business executive whose career ran through the Ministry of Finance, the country's largest telecommunications company and its domestic airline industry. He served as State Minister and Deputy Minister of Finance, chaired Dhiraagu, and for many years was Managing Director of Villa Air, the airline of the Villa Group.

He spent many years at the Ministry of Finance, where, according to Edition.mv, he played a leading role in implementing financial policies and projects. As Deputy Minister and later State Minister of Finance he contributed to several financial reforms introduced during the final years of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's administration, which ended in 2008. He was also a director of the Maldives Stock Exchange.

From 2011 he led Villa Air as Managing Director. The airline, which also flies under the FlyMe name, connects Male with domestic airports across the atolls, and reports credit him with a key role in the development of its operations and its expansion during a period when inter-island air travel grew in importance for residents and tourists alike.

Rilwan was appointed to the board of Dhiraagu on behalf of the government and became its chairman in 2014, during a period of significant restructuring at the company. He was removed from the post in February 2015. He held a Master of Business Administration in international business and management from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

He suffered a stroke about six months before his death and had been receiving treatment since. He died on 2 November 2026 while being treated at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male. His death was reported the same morning by Sun, Atoll Times and Edition.mv, which described him as a long-serving figure in the Maldives' telecommunications and aviation sectors. His age and details of his family had not been made public in those reports.