• June Manoranee Manoharan

    ...believe in yourself nothing is impossible

    To be successful in life one must dream big. We must imagine what our future could be, ideal in every respect and then work every day towards our distant vision, that goal or purpose. If we set our path likewise most of our obstacles would melt away. Instead of cowering before the odds, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them, nothing indeed is impossible in this world; even the word impossible says 'I AM POSSIBLE'. Chanting this mantra was our next achiever on the league who dreamed to make it big in today's cut-throat patriarchal world; she fearlessly pursued her dreams and aspirations to reach where she is today.

    Mrs. Manoharan was born in east part of Sri Lanka, in a place called Kalmunai. In her family of four siblings, two sisters and two brothers, her father was an attorney at law and her mother was a teacher. She was born and brought up in Sri Lanka until she finished University. Her parents decided to leave Sri Lanka and migrated to Canada while she stayed back to complete her higher education in Sri Lanka after which she joined them in Canada.

    Mrs. Manoharan did her Electronics Engineering from the Moratuwa University, Sri Lanka. She has also completed her MBA in marketing from Chartered Institute of Marketing, which gave her an exposure in the sales and marketing field. She came to Middle East to work with her husband, who is Cooperate Credit Manager at HSBC, Middle East, Dubai. "I got married and came to Middle East with my husband in late 80's. I was working for a consulting firm. They were doing some projects with BP and I came as a consultant for BP from that company. I worked under this project for about 2 years. From there I was able to join BP in Oman in early 90's and from that

  • June Manoranee Manoharan

    time onwards, I have been working for the same company."

    From Oman, Mrs. Manoharan moved to Dubai with her husband. There she got an opportunity to decide upon the field which she wanted to join. "Maritime is completely different since my background is completely non maritime. I did engineering and then I did MBA in Marketing but I found some interest in this stream. Although this industry was mainly dominated by men at that time, I found it interesting to move into this industry. I joined the Customer Service sector and found it quite unique & interesting. I then moved into my sales field and have developed into Regional Sales Manager role.

    It is commendable for a woman to take up such a bold step and invade into an all-man world. We were extremely excited to know who inspired her to take up this profession in the first place. "I found this industry to be very unique and it has its own work ethos and is what you would call a very closely knit industry. It has its own traditions, and there is a certain way of doing this. They believe in traditional values, that is probably the reason I was interested in this field. My manager at that time who was from the Maritime Industry inspired me to take up this career path. I don't have any regrets since it has worked well for me and even after all those long years I am still in this industry."

    Working in a challenging industry like this is indeed a biggest accomplishment in itself but we wanted to hear from Mrs. Manoharan herself about what she personally believes is her greatest accomplishment and the hurdles she had to face to firm her roots in this industry "I started my life in this industry years ago when at the time there were not many females. I was looking after the Middle East and Indian subcontinent and gradually we expanded to the regions of Singapore/Malaysia and South Africa. At that time I think gender was a big challenge within the region I was looking after. That was especially a bit of a challenge for me. However it was not difficult for me to overcome. I would like to continue what I am doing and I want to make sure what I have learned and the sort of experience I have gained will be passed down to the coming generation. I have been in the market as a leader and I would like to continue on the same path."

  • June Manoranee Manoharan

    Mrs. Manoharan has spent a quality time in this working industry closely with some of the experts in this industry. We decided to extract some of her experience that she had gained from the industry by asking her about what a person should never do "Whatever you do; you should have long term vision, which will be beneficial to the next generation. Relationships are one of the keys to success, people will remember the good and the bad times hence having long term vision will definitely help us now and in the future. Always make sure all stake holders are satisfied, and try and not to win on account of someone else's losses. It should be a win-win situation taking into consideration all stake holders."

    There are absolutely no shortcuts to success and to make it to the top you definitely have to strive hard for it. We were delighted when Mrs. Manoharan shared with us her views about the various points one should keep in mind to be successful in this industry. "In depth understanding of the Industry that you are working in is a must. You should have a great influence on what is required for every area of the field and have a full understanding of the industry and work accordingly."

    Decisions, be it significant or insignificant, have to be taken by someone responsible. But should a decision be taken alone or engaging others too becomes an important question. We decided to put forth this question to Mrs. Manoharan to understand her views on making important decisions alone "If you take an important decision and you cause a situation where you engage the stake holders, understand the stake holder's interest, impress them and then take the decision after engaging people. You can take the decision but without engaging the people or without fully understanding the scenario will lead you to regret the situation later."

    We decided to lighten up discussion and to know more about her, thus we started off with her hobbies "I read a bit. I read to develop the understanding I have about the industry and how the world works. It is for my own personal development as well. I enjoy swimming and watch selected movies. I enjoy spending my free time with my family"

  • June Manoranee Manoharan

    Everyone has some or the other plans about their retirement. We decided to extend the time period to 80 years. With a smile on her face she replied "Following my retirement, I am planning to write a book about my journey in the maritime field. I have been working in interesting regions like the Gulf, Middle East and Indian subcontinent - places which are challenging for females to venture into. I have a lots of interesting stories and experience, which I am planning to write."

    It was almost time for us to leave and conclude our hearty talk with Mrs. Manoharan, but how could we ever leave without a small note for our youngsters who would like to follow her path "Believe in what you are; just analyze three things 1) what you are good at, 2) what is your passion? 3) What would you want to do? then look for something that you are passionate about and what you enjoy doing. Have a goal, have vision, believe in your aspiration and work towards that. Nothing is impossible if you believe you are going to reach there."

    It was a great experience for us to know a woman of her caliber. We wish to acknowledge the spirit of Mrs. June Manoranee Manoharan and salute her daring spirit to reach her goals and make it to the position she has always dreamed off. We wish her all the best for her future life, may she be an idol for men and women alike who desire to chase their dreams in their lives.

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