An on-going initiative of Commercial Bank of Ceylon to develop entrepreneurship in the SME sector benefitted 341 entrepreneurs in the Polonnaruwa and Gampaha areas, the majority of them women.
The Bank hosted two seminars in these towns for 140 businessmen of the North Central Province and for 201 entrepreneurs in the Gampaha District, the latter exclusively for women.
The resource person for both programmes was Mr Chandana Gunawardena, a leading speaker on motivation and business development. The emphasis of these programmes was on empowerment of participants in the areas of business development and sustainability.
The Polonnaruwa programme was attended by the Regional Manager (North Central) of Commercial Bank Mr Saneth Jayasundara, Officers of the Bank’s Development Credit Department and Managers of the Kaduruwela and Hingurakgoda branches of Commercial Bank.
The Gampaha programme was attended by the Acting Regional Manager (Colombo Metro) of Commercial Bank Mr S.B.Wasala, Officers of the Bank’s Development Credit Department and the Branch Managers of the Gampaha,Ganemulla, Kadawatha, Kirindiwela, Veyangoda and Weliveriya branches. This was the second of such programme conducted by the Bank exclusively for the benefit of women entrepreneurs in the country.
The Commercial Bank has been conducting similar programs for entrepreneurs in many areas of the country. The Bank has to date conducted 61 such programmes which have benefited nearly 5,500 entrepreneurs. In May 2016 the Bank conducted a programme specifically designed for women entrepreneurs in Matara, which was attended by over 100 participants.
This program was supported by the National Enterprise Development Authority (NEDA), which played a key role in identifying prospective women entrepreneurs for the programme.
These programs are also supported by the bank’s 15 Agriculture & Micro Finance Units (AMFUs) which play a key role in helping the bank to identify specific needs of people who require assistance to develop either their agriculture activities or micro businesses, and are dedicated to promote agriculture lending and micro finance.
Commercial Bank’s AMFUs are located in Ratnapura, Narammala, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Kilinochchi, Bandarawela, Wellawaya, Hingurakgoda, Galewela, Atchuvely, Vavuniya, Kattankudy, Tissamaharama, Neluwa and Pottuvil.