Meet Sajani Amarasiri: Entrepreneurial Innovator

Meet Sajani Amarasiri founder of Kola Goodies & Colombo Cooperative 

Sajani Amarasiri is on a mission to bring balanced wellness routines with ayurvedic wisdom to the world––one that includes gotu kola and a glass of wine.

She cut her teeth at Microsoft and Amazon, specializing in tech supply chain management, before diving into her passion for connecting her roots to modern life. Her focus on connecting cultures and communities across the globe awarded her Google IO extended Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Sri Lanka in 2018.

Sajani leads Kola Goodies with adaptability and resilience, all markers of her immigrant experience that led her to translate her Sri Lankan heritage to modern life in the States. Through Kola, Sajani is proud to honor her roots while making wellness fun.

Learn more about Sajani by reading the interview our team did with her below!

How did you get started in your business?

When I moved to the US, there were a lot of Western nuances to get used to, like the cold in the Northeast, and the emphasis on fast, convenient and easy food. It made me feel homesick for my memories of watching my mom take hours out of her day to prepare homemade coconut milk. And I especially missed one particular dish: her Kola Kanda.

Kola Kanda is a breakfast smoothie that my mother would make with coconut milk, cooked rice, cinnamon, gotu kola greens, curry leaves, and ginger. It warmed my heart and soul. It took me a move across the globe to understand the deep nourishment that Kola Kanda provided, and how much I needed to stay connected to my culture and its traditions. 

At the time, I was working at Microsoft in tech supply chain management, and I had a successful career. But I decided to start a wellness brand, Kola Goodies, which pays homage to my roots and my mother’s recipes. 

Favorite hobbies or passions outside of business?

I am a person who loves exploring. Travel gives me a lot of joy because I get to explore, learn and immerse myself in new cultures. With that not being an option during these times, I have had to find other ways to quench that thirst for exploration. 

A blessing during the lockdown has been the fact that there is nowhere to be at a certain time—no brunches to get to, no friends to meet, no time to be back home. My husband and I have really enjoyed taking advantage of that time to go on city walks and get lost in streets and neighborhoods we haven’t been to before.

 

What keeps you inspired?

The sacrifices and work ethic that both my parents and my husband embody keep me inspired—it allows me to work hard towards giving my best, to ensure everything they’ve given me was worth it in helping me get to where I am today. Working on building a brand that gives credit to my roots and its treasures—and, in turn, honors my family—also keeps me inspired.

 

What is one of the most challenging hurdles you’ve faced in business?

Time and money. I would say as a solopreneur who decided to bootstrap until now, every area of the business and the investment that goes into each area, along with balancing all of it, has been hard but filled with valuable lessons. 

I quickly am learning that I cannot do it all by myself, that I have to ask for help, and that I have to hire talent for us to grow and avoid burnout. But, putting a structure around my time and ensuring I take time for myself for nonwork things has also been hard, especially during COVID!

 

How has COVID affected your business and how have you pivoted?

Because we launched during COVID, we didn’t have a comparison point to before/after—however, it has imposed a whole set of new challenges. Even though we didn’t pivot as a product, a lot of our strategies have changed and adapted to current times, and we will surely continue to do so!

Our original launch marketing plans involved a lot of experiential marketing plans—this is one we had to quickly move away from and invest more in social and digital marketing. Additionally, supply chain issues delayed us in launching our hero SKU, Super Green Latte. However, we still decided to go ahead with launching what we had to start building a community, so we could have a bigger audience when it was time to launch our hero product. 

 

Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years?

Today, I’m dedicated to contributing something different to the $70 billion superfoods and herbs market, and the $4.2 trillion wellness industry. These industries are filled with claims of ancient wisdom, yet we rarely see companies with roots in that culture, and often, we see big brands cashing in on minority/marginalized communities’ traditional practices. I want to lead with my identity as a founder, and weave my heritage into every facet of the business, from hiring, to sourcing and spending our money on programs that are making change around the world. 

 

What do you do to educate yourself as an entrepreneur? (Books, podcasts, courses, etc.)

Honestly, lots of googling and asking friends for help on how to do things! I also draw inspiration from podcasts like How I Built This by NPR, and my favorite business book is Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. 

 

What are your top 3 tips for business owners who are just starting out?

1. Find a mentor. I had a conversation with a mentor in which he asked, “What do you want to do with your life? You keep doing side hustles—what’s stopping you from making it your full-time focus?” His prompt was enough for me to think through the fears that were holding me back from full-time entrepreneurship. Having mentors who challenge my thinking and provide a different perspective is a blessing.
   
2. Take care of your mental health. For entrepreneurs, it’s easy to get sucked into our own world. It’s important for us to step back and realize we are a part of a universe that’s so much bigger than the task at hand. Morning meditation, walking, and moving, video calling family daily (especially my cute baby nephew) have been good ways to zone out and center myself. 
   
3. Establish a strong support group. Community is key because no one is entirely self-made.

We’re so excited to have Sajani as one of our speakers at the Back To Business Conference on September 12th. CLICK HERE to purchase your ticket!