In a world where gender equality is still a battle to be won, it’s inspiring to see women rising up and taking the lead. One such remarkable woman is Lasanthi Fernando, the Country Director at Oriflame Lanka (Pvt) Limited. Her unwavering determination and passion for empowering women has paved the way for many success stories.
Lasanthi Fernando, is a chartered accountant by profession and has worked in finance and operations for 20 years. She started her career at Price Waterhouse Coopers and later joined Oriflame for a decade before venturing into building her own business. In 2021, she was invited to rejoin Oriflame as the country director, a challenge she was more than ready to take on.
Coming from a background like PWC as her first employer, Lasanthi mentions that she has never felt anything but equal around her colleagues, in all the various organisations that she has worked for. She is very thankful for the privilege but is aware that this is not true for many other women.
Lasanthi believes in inner confidence, built on values instilled by friends and family, to empower oneself. She also emphasizes gender balance in organizations and encourages recruiting more women to achieve it. Creating an inclusive culture that provides a warm and friendly environment for women is vital, and Lasanthi takes pride in the fact that in her years with Oriflame, there have been no complaints of harassment or mistreatment.
She highlights that providing a path towards financial independence through Oriflame’s income opportunity is empowering women. The company also provides training and development opportunities for those who are serious about building their business with Oriflame. Additionally, local and global conferences help brand partners expand their horizons, uplift their present lifestyles, and potentially creates a thirst to reach for bigger better dreams. Lasanthi also mentions that many of their brand partners have invested their earnings from Oriflame in their own higher education, education of their children and in building on their various dreams. This of course empowers them further in helping their decision making, & business skills, making it possible for many women reach their highest potential.
The benefits of having empowered women in the organization, according to Fernando, include better teamwork, a more open environment to new thinking and innovation, and adding warmth, gentleness, inclusiveness, and beauty to any team. Women bring balance to an organisation that is immeasurable. The level of empathy & understanding and sometimes having a different perspective can have major advantages when dealing with situations. This is especially true for Oriflame as their brand partners are mostly women and having a women’s perspective becomes extremely important to help their brand partners.
To expand women’s links to each other, Lasanthi suggests creating special institutions where successful women in leadership roles can provide career guidance, training, and education to help other women gain necessary skills, knowledge, and confidence to reach their highest potential. Support groups accessible to all segments of women to deal with the issues they face are also important.
However, to reach success it is essential that you go that extra mile, being positive and energetic is important, sometimes working long hours and generally being independent. This builds your confidence to deal with various situations and colleagues as an equal and prepares you to take the lead where appropriate.
Institutional and societal changes need to be made for women to be empowered on a broader scale. These include raising awareness and promoting sensitivity towards gender biases that exist, ensuring equal pay for the same job, access to education, healthcare, and appropriate nutrition, and allowing flexible work hours for women who have young children to support. Protecting females in organizations through regulations/policy against violence and harassment is also crucial, considering there is still stigma against women who have faced violence in society. Furthermore, Fernando believes that stereotyping women’s roles in society must be eliminated.
Lasanthi’s passion for her work with Oriflame is driven by the sense achievement she feels through empowering women of diverse backgrounds. “I have a great team at Oriflame and we are truly dedicated to making a difference, a positive change in the lives of the people we touch’’.
As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, it is crucial to reflect on the importance of equity in creating a fair and just society. As stated by Lasanthi “For me in a way equality was never the issue, to find the right space for each person was always more important. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day, embrace equity, therefore is spot on.” Let us strive to ensure that everyone, regardless of gender, race or religion, has equal access to opportunities and resources to reach their full potential.