Innovation, drive and power women: The success story of OrelBuy

The innovative women managing the OrelBuy brand

The prevailing COVID-19 pandemic redefined how people sourced basic needs with little or no physical contact to minimise the risk of infection and as a part of this effort, innovative conglomerate Orel Corporation embarked on a new global portfolio brand titled ‘Empowering Humanity’ that encompassed easy-to-use applications to enable easy access to daily essentials and requirements needed by the community .

This led to a team of four self-empowered women at Orel to make inroads into launching the futuristic brand OrelBuy – a premier online store offering a safe, quick and easy way of purchasing everyday items from home with delivery offered to the doorstep. 

Manager Merchandising Heshani Wijewardena, Process Engineer Iroshini Kumarage, Head of I4 Business Units Priyanka Perera and Assistant Manager Administration – Digital Commerce Wijayanthi Karunakaran collaborated to enhance and extend the services of the brand, which since its launch, has expanded its partnership with a variety of merchants and is continuously adding new products to its online store. Moreover, payments are completely cashless via OrelPay, the payment partner for OrelBuy that offers the simple swipe of a QR code option. 

Given the remote work status and challenges around manufacturing in such an environment, conceptualising and developing this application wasn’t an easy task. 

“Although there was a pandemic in force, we still operated in an extremely dynamic environment where we had to embrace rapid changes and incorporate improvements in real time, that was essential to support our journey to make the brand a success,” explained Iroshini. She said even though these changes proved challenging and even out of scope at times, the team’s determination, collaborative working and positive attitude led to the brand being enthusiastically embraced by the general public.

Wijayanthi agreed, adding she believed that “special personality traits like energy, drive and being naturally empathetic made it easier for us women to embrace change and continue to thrive in a demanding industry like ours”.

Further explaining the specific manufacturing role played by the team in ensuring the business viability and success of OrelBuy, Heshani said it was a case of continuously following up with importers and local suppliers on orders and incorporating the shortest and safest ways to obtain raw material and finished goods in Sri Lanka due to sourcing restrictions. 

“As you can imagine, securing the right suppliers for OrelBuy was extremely challenging during the pandemic. We couldn’t predict anything because the supply chain landscape kept changing frequently and we always worked with a backup plan,” she said. 

These included a digital platform that was created within a short span of time, to ensure managing continuous end-to-end functions that included handling the stored products in a warehouse, and managing the physical stores whilst taking responsibility of the packing operation for online orders, and ensuring timely delivery of goods to customers within the stipulated deadlines. Support functions, such as HR had an important role to play as well in terms of making sure the overall team was well supported with the right people for different roles.

The power team believes that despite the challenges in managing the day-to-day operation remotely and ensuring the smooth functionality of OrelBuy, it’s the company’s inclusive and open culture that keeps all teams motivated. “There’s freedom of expression and everyone’s ideas and feedback is considered. That’s key when you’re in the business of innovation,” added Priyanka. 

“We believe that building and fostering a diversity and inclusion strategy that is truly lived in our organisation is a catalyst for success and a foundation for innovation which in turn will translate to long-term business benefits for Orel and we will continue to drive and align diversity and inclusion efforts across the entire organisation at all points,” affirmed Orel Corporation General Manager, Business Development Chaminda De Silva.