The Colombo Stock Exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission and CA Sri Lanka have concluded a pair of issuer forums for small and medium enterprises in Anuradhapura and Jaffna, part of an island-wide push to interest regional businesses in raising capital through the market.

The forums were held on 10 and 12 September respectively, and the organisers’ account of them was released this week, carried by Hiru News.

What was covered

Sessions dealt with initial public offerings and the regulatory requirements attached to them, succession planning for family-owned businesses, and the opportunities available through the CSE’s Empower Board — the exchange’s listing platform aimed at smaller companies that cannot meet main-board requirements.

Participants were also taken through the SME Creditworthiness Rating Framework, the SME Magazine, the Entrepreneur Awards Programme, and the financial management practices needed to sustain growth.

Both events closed with panel discussions in which participants could put questions directly to practitioners.

Who spoke

The panels drew on the regulator, the exchange and the audit profession. From the SEC, Corporate Affairs managers Samanthi Gunawardana and Marian Sandanam; from the CSE, Senior Vice President, Commercial Punyamali Saparamadu, Jaffna Branch Manager Shanmukananthan Sabananthan and Commercial Manager Himashi Wickramasinghe.

They were joined by Somasuriyasingham Janarthanan, Managing Partner of JA Partners; Rasika Fernando, Partner at Ernst & Young; Anoji De Silva, Vice President of CA Sri Lanka; and Krishnaveny Karmegam, Associate Director at Deloitte Sri Lanka, along with investment banking analysts.

That the CSE fields a branch manager in Jaffna is itself a marker of how far the exchange’s regional footprint now extends.

The gap in the account

The release records what was discussed but not what it achieved. It gives no attendance figures for either forum, no indication of how many firms are actively considering a listing, and no count of how many regional SMEs have reached the Empower Board through the programme since it began.

Nor does it say how many events the island-wide series comprises, which locations remain, or when it concludes. Without those, the forums are documented as having happened rather than as having produced a measurable result.

Readers should also note the timing: the events took place roughly two weeks before this account of them was published. No other verified newsroom had carried the item at the time of writing.