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| Thursday, 12 August 2004 |
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People in the North keen on fisheries, agricultural projects - BDC official By Shirajiv Sirimane The Western Region Business Development Centre (BDC) will actively promote Small and Medium sector entrepreneurs said Coordinator of the project Ruwan Abeygunawardane. Addressing the Stakeholder workshop attended by over 75 in Colombo on Tuesday he said that the BDC provides assistance to strengthen their services and improve productivity in the SME sector. He said that with the government deciding to promote agriculture and the rural economy, developing the SME sector is very important. Even donor agencies have accepted that it is necessary to upgrade and stabilise the SME sector to meet the present market driven economy. The BDC was set up in April on a joint directive of the government and the Asian Development bank. "We have six business centres in Kandy, Kurunegala, Matara Jaffna and Trincomalee," he said. The BDC also assists in human resource management and the supply of technology. The Jaffna and Trincomalee branches are addressing a series of problems relating to lack of technology and basic infrastructure. "The people in the North and East need guidance, more than financial assistance," another official of the BDC said. Most of them have relatives in Europe and what the people need is guidance to start an industry. "The relatives abroad provide funds for various projects undertaken by their Sri Lankan counterparts. However the relatives abroad do not have time to come to Sri Lanka and assist in new ventures," he said. BDC officials have visited some of the would-be entrepreneurs and have given them advice and guidelines as to how they should commence their new ventures. "The Northern people are keen on starting fisheries and agricultural projects since they can operate from their native place," he said. The BDC network supports capacity building for business development service market. It is owned and operated by three private sector business development organisations. Some of the key services offered by the BDC include co-ordination with other Zonal based facilitators, provide demand led market development and market research, training skills transfer, business planning and evaluation services, engineering services, enterprise development, resource management, appropriate technology and packaging. |
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