Onella Karunanayake

Today, I am featuring a young, vibrant, beautiful young lady who aspire to accept a challenge and bring creativity, empowerment and positive change in her occupational field and of course, within her community. Coming from a close-knit family and being the eldest daughter (with two other siblings), she grew up being a passionate sportswoman, eventually stepping into a career in Accountancy. Being an active member of Women In Management (WIM), she is also the Vice-Chair of its New Generation Chapter. I warmly welcome Onella Karunanayake.
 

You are professionally qualified in the field of Accounting. Despite an array of fields you have excelled in, what inspired you to take up that route? At first, I wanted to be a Lawyer. However, due to a little lack of fluency in written Sinhalese I acknowledged my need to explore other alternatives. I identified with the Accountancy field that was open and growing in Sri Lanka. My parents wanted all of us close to home which is what led me to stay back in Sri Lanka for my higher education, subsequently leading me to follow my father’s professional footsteps to become an Accountant.

Apart from your successes in the academic field, your journey was also decorated with unique sporting interests. What was the experience like? How has sportsmanship helped you in your growth and day to day life? I absolutely loved my sports and was also the overall Sports Captain in school. I believe sports help you channel your inner strength and build remarkable social skills. It also makes you understand the importance of team work, partnership and also helps strike a balance, especially when managing school, work and home life. It helps with perseverance and also teaches you to take up the role of a team player whenever necessary. And most importantly, it has taught me to take a win modestly and a loss graciously while keeping at it.
 

You run your own enterprise OSM Holdings that is specialized in transportation warehousing and freight. I’d like to hear a bit about it and your work scope within the company. OSM Holdings is a family business that started over fifty years ago with my grandfather. My father came in about 15-20 years ago and expanded from a freight company to a 3-PL logistics providing company that has transportation, warehousing and the entire array of services in the logistics field. The nature of Sri Lanka being a gem in the logistical route was identified by my father to leverage the importance of its location. My subsequent role and aim has been to continue to strengthen our core business but also to add to our portfolio of companies. I have been working on a few interesting new ventures that are expected to be launched shortly. I like to constantly plug in innovation and new age thinking to add value. Logistics is a vast field with many direct and indirect jobs created and hence opportunities are immense if done efficiently.

Being from a prominent political family do you face any challenges or hurdles when being a working career woman? I believe I hit the trifecta of challenges when it comes to working in a family business, playing a bigger role as the new generation, all whilst being a young female. All have had its set of hardships but it is really up to you to push through, present yourselves and really put out what you can bring to the table. I believe when people meet you and realize that you put the work in and are talking the same language then they will become more accepting of you. No one should feel entitled to anything. I always believe in disciplining myself and earning my own spot every day. We must always show how we are able to add value and create change for the better. This mindset has helped me push through challenges; and I believe those very challenges are my strengths today.
 

In your perspective, how can a woman’s role transform the industry you’re working in? I certainly want to increase female participation in my organization at every level. Whilst uplifting the power women already functioning within the organization at every level, I want to see the generalized industrial roles to be more unisex. I feel that when you help a woman, you not only uplift her, but you uplift an entire family; and encouraging more women to join the workforce especially in to this industry, which directly represents just over 5% of our GDP, will bring a huge boost to our country’s economy. We are a population of over 21 million people of which over 50% of it is female. Having greater participation in the economy will automatically be great for the country. I believe us women are focused multi-taskers. We add flavor to decisions by thinking about an outcome in a perspective that is not conventionally used.

Social media responsibility is a matter that is close to your heart. We see how social media users are playing hardball with women, children, male youth and public figures in general with no reasonable grounds. I’d like to hear your perspective on this. This is a cause very close to my heart that I am now very vocal about it, as I have been a witness to the damage it can cause. Social media brings each individual so much power, but with power should also be responsibility. We see the amazing uses of social media that are around us; for instance even to see businesses solely happening online on Instagram and Facebook and Tik Tok and also other apps such as Zoom and WhatsApp. However, it also gives space and authority for malicious gossip and content for click bait that can destroy a hard-earned reputation in a matter of seconds. How many young girls and boys right now are being harassed and bullied online in unthinkable ways leading to much emotional agony? We have to realize that once something is put out online it can cause irreparable damage to someone. I see the many great uses of media whether it be print or digital but it should always be used for the greater good.
 

In your opinion, how can we improve towards responsible social media utilization? Very simple. Before you like, share, comment, click or reshare on any medium of media, check the source, question the accuracy, precision and reliability of the story. Take an educated decision and proceed with what you do next.

You also do tremendous work silently with Women in Management especially with their New Generation chapter. What’s in the pipeline for the near future? I feel it’s very important to give back, which is sometimes challenging to do on your own. When I looked for organizations that can simultaneously help in communal and personal growth, I found Women In Management (WIM). I have to thank the Founder of Women In Management (WIM) – Dr. Sulochana Segera firstly for always pushing and encouraging me to unlock further levels of my potential and for believing in me when I don’t sometimes believe in myself. We have as an organization funded and supported people very much in need over the years and to date, this still continues. We have also seen a need to promote and develop the youth of Sri Lanka, the seed behind the New Generation Awards (NG awards) chapter by WIM. We successfully had our first award ceremony last year and together with the National Youth Services Council of Sri Lanka, we are once again gearing up to hold the 2021 NG Awards within the next few weeks. I have seen the amazing platform it gave to our previous winners. It really is a tremendous platform for the youth of Sri Lanka.