Pan Asia Bank has held an entrepreneurship development workshop in Maharagama with the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, aimed at strengthening the business capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The session was run under the bank’s sustainable development objectives and a memorandum of understanding with the chamber, Hiru News reported. Close to 100 entrepreneurs from Maharagama, Kottawa, Piliyandala, Homagama and surrounding areas took part, drawn from the bank’s own customers and the chamber’s membership.
The programme was aimed at SME operators, businesses engaged in exports and women entrepreneurs. It concentrated on basic financial literacy and banking requirements, good governance practices for business, refinancing facilities available to small and medium enterprises, and sustainable business methods.
Jagath Miriyagalla, a human resources development consultant, corporate trainer and visiting lecturer with more than 30 years of experience across HR management, sales, marketing, leadership and organisational development, contributed as a resource person.
The bank’s development banking unit also took part, briefing participants on financing facilities, refinancing schemes and banking services available to support business growth.
“Small and medium enterprises represent a very important part of Sri Lanka’s economy,” said Pan Asia Bank Director and Chief Executive Naleen Edirisinghe. “Providing financial facilities alone is not enough to empower them. They must also be given the knowledge, guidance and appropriate financial solutions needed to manage a business properly and achieve sustainable growth.”
Running such programmes with the chamber and other stakeholders brings practical knowledge closer to entrepreneurs and improves their financial understanding and capacity to meet challenges, Edirisinghe said, adding that this was particularly valuable for women entrepreneurs and for businesses hoping to enter export markets.
The workshop also gave participants an opportunity to exchange views with specialists and to learn from the experience of other business owners.
On sourcing: Hiru News is the only verified newsroom this desk found carrying an account of the Maharagama session. The bank and the chamber have run a series of similarly titled SME workshops in other locations over several years, so earlier reports under near-identical headlines refer to different events.
Source: Pan Asia Bank joins hands with the National Chamber of Commerce to empower SMEs — Hiru News, October 23 (Sinhala).