geo/sri-lanka
In 1988, Rezani Aziz joined the Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Sri Lanka to network with other business women. Today, she’s now the founder of the Federation of Women Entrepreneur Associations in Sri Lanka (FWEASL) and CEO of Adfactors PR. In this Democracy that Delivers’s podcast, Aziz shares the changes she’s witnessed and helped foster for women entrepreneurs from 1988 to today.
The Sri Lankan-German SME Development Programme aims to support a cohesive policy framework enabling Sri Lankan SMEs to grow in an eco-friendly manner through a wide range of technical assistance, innovation and improved access to finance, German Muller, Senior Advisor GIZ said in Colombo recently.
Although Sri Lanka has achieved most of the MDG’s related human development goals, the active female participation in the economy is relatively low. Given the low female labor force participation in the country, fostering women entrepreneurs can be an effective way of capturing the potential of women in the development process of Sri Lanka.
Intellecap Impact Investment Network (I3N) and Infuse Ventures have invested $500,000, or Rs 3 crore, in Coimbatore-based solar agriculture startup Surya Power Magic. I3N, which is an angel network investing in social enterprises, saw members including solar panel manufacturer Waaree Group and family office Kshatriya Ventures participate in the deal. Infuse Ventures is a Rs 110 crore fund promoted by IIM Ahmedabad's Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) and focusing on the clean tech sector.
Keshala Jayawardena, the Chairperson of the Regional Development Bank (RDB) of Sri Lanka has noted that a loan scheme launched especially to encourage female entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka to be self-sufficient has been a success. According to Jayawardena, the Bank has made arrangements to grant loans to 50 female entrepreneurs from each of its 267 branches in the country, and aims to grant loans to 13,400 women.
Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka account for 80% - 90% of the total number of enterprises, and the development of the sector is the key for resilient national economies, says the Asian Development Bank. Sourcing the facts to the Annual Report of the Ministry of Finance and Planning 2012, the inaugural edition of the Asia SME Finance Monitor notes that the SMEs contributed to 30% of GDP, 20% of exports, 30% of the production value added in the manufacturing sector, and employed 35% of the total workforce.
IFC is providing a $125 million syndicated financing package to Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank PLC (NDB) to expand access to finance for over 50,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises over the next four years.
