The undying flame of Oriflame
by Nilma Dole
 There are many cosmetic and
beauty companies that advertise their products with nearly naked women
in bold advertisements to convince women on the art of beautification.
But one beauty company has taken steps to overcome the boundaries to
give Sri Lankan women a better gain in getting more than just makeup.
Since its inception in 1997, Oriflame Sri Lanka has become the market
leader in the country for the best direct-sales company. They are now on
their way to being the most preferred beauty company to not only making
Sri Lankan woman beautiful but also empowering them with business
opportunities to earn extra money.
For a woman who can’t commit to a full-time jobas they have to take
care of their children or someone who isn’t capable of having an office
job, being an Oriflame beauty consultant has significant rewards that
not only gives pocket money but also turns many women into bread-winners
too.
The Managing Director of Oriflame, Pierre Martensson says, “Make
money today and fulfill your dreams tomorrow!” So in order to give the
Sri Lankan woman living in the rural areas a chance to also become part
of the Oriflame family, the company is now expanding in the North and
East.
 “There are now 500 in Batticaloa and Trincomalee with 300 joining the
bandwagon in Jaffna” he said. With Oriflame products being not as costly
as some of the high-class beauty products, the fact that Jaffna women
also deserve to be beautiful is important.
“The purchasing power in the Northern Province is high and as peace
has dawned, there are plenty of business-minded women who want to earn
some money and at the same time, making others like them beautiful,”
said Martensson.
The best thing about being an Oriflame consultant is the fact that
you don’t need to have special qualifications but just the art of
convincing! In order to motivate their consultants, Oriflame gives a
Performance Discount and Bonus directly. Every month, an Oriflame
consultant receives a new product catalogue where they show it to people
they know and explain about the benefits of buying Oriflame. A key
benefit is that Oriflame offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on all
products. “What’s more, a good Oriflame consultant can travel the world
and achieve distinguished positions at Oriflame to inspire men and women
to be like them!” explained Martensson.
In view of Oriflame’s Product Strategy, ‘Best of Nature, Best of
Science’ and their natural, pure and modern ethos they strive to use
ingredients that are conceived as natural and not harmful to the
environment. A special panel of experts is enlisted to make Oriflame
products healthy, natural and safe with surveys and statistics used to
back figures. More than just for women, Oriflame has tasted success in
giving men more products including their whitening product range to help
men look beautiful too!
So it was high time that the son of co-founder Robert af Jochnick,
Alexander af Jochnick finally visited Sri Lanka. “This is the first time
I’ve been to Sri Lanka and I’m very happy to be here” he said. He is a
board member of Oriflame cosmetics and has a Master of Science in
Business Administration whilst also having his own charity foundation.
“It was after 10 years of Oriflame in Europe that we decided in tackling
the Asian market. We wanted to give the benefits of business
opportunities to the traditional woman in South East Asia similar to
what women in the Western world take for granted” said af Jochnick.
 There are 17, 000 members of the Oriflame family in Sri Lanka which
is part of the 1.5 million family around the world. “Oriflame’s goal is
to increase this number to 25, 000 by June 2011 and we are confident to
reach this number” said Martensson.
The wonderful range of products they have in store encompasses from
the Wellness range to the Visions beauty product label. Recently,
Oriflame re-launched their Wellness range with many success stories
proving that their products are effective and safe for Sri Lankans.
Their products range from the best perfumes to the best cosmetics which
can be used on Asian skin even though their product catalogue has
Swedish women appearing on it.
As for the future, Martensson said, “We are confident to work with
Sri Lanka hopefully in terms of natural sourcing products but our aim is
to do it in a sustainable manner so that it should be nature-friendly!”
Oriflame in short:
• 1.3 billion Euros in annual sales
• Over 3 million Consultants
• 7500 employees
• 900 products annually
• Co-founder of World Childhood Foundation
• Global R&D centre with more than 100 scientists
• 5 own production units in Sweden, Poland, China, Russia and India
• Listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange since March 2004
• Products based on natural ingredients, never tested on animals
• Operations in 62 countries |
