‘A former model’, ‘she once worked as a gas-station attendant’, ‘she started by selling clothes from her station-wagon, and went on to start Odel, Sri Lanka’s first departmental store’ read the various press releases and articles I skim through to prepare for my interview with Otara Gunewardene. I also learn that Odel has 19 stores across Sri Lanka, most of which are situated in enviable pin codes. I visit a few stores in Colombo, and make my way from floor to floor to find everything from top designer and high-street labels for men, women and children to funky jewellery, branded cosmetics, confectionaries, books and more. Armed with this information, I naturally paint Gunewardene as a bit of a diva. And I now expect to meet a boisterous, out-spoken woman, but am pleasantly surprised by the reticent mannerisms of this demure beauty. “I couldn’t have predicted this,” says Gunewardene humbly on the phenomenal Odel empire. “After all, I pretty much stumbled into it.” 

Otara Gunewardene has set her sights on India and hopes to set shop here soon