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| Wednesday, 8 December 2004 |
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A praiseworthy home-grown budget with a strong pro-poor focus by Chandani Jayatilleke Chairman Ceylinco Consolidated, Dr. Lalith Kotelawala believes that a country's economic independence largely depends on the indigenous industries and innovative ideas of its people.
However, people's ideas and efforts alone are not sufficient to achieve any particular economic goal. A Government which promotes such ideas among the people and encourages them to achieve economic independence by way of providing concessions and other business related benefits is an absolute necessity. The present Government, Dr. Kotelawala said, has realised the importance of this concept. "That's why I praise the Government for presenting a home grown budget which is aiming at developing an economy with a Sri Lankan touch," Dr. Kotelawala told the Daily News in an interview. Since gaining independence in 1948, this country has gone through many different economic situations. Successive Governments have introduced different economic concepts including capitalist, Marxist and glob alised and free market policies. "However, none of these policies has done any good for the country and its people. None of these economic systems did help eliminate poverty in this country. Instead, these policies have made the poor a poorer lot. But I hope, Budget 2005 has the best proposals which basically match our own thinking," he said.
"There's a lot of original thinking in these budget proposals and some of the proposals are aimed at developing a Sri Lankan economy based on agriculture and small and medium sector ventures. I think this was the only time that a Sri Lankan Government had given some serious considerations to include various policies that are to the delight of the Sri Lankan entrepreneurs," he said. And also the Government has gone beyond the World Bank and IMF guidelines in preparing this budget and has given much thought to developing local industries. They have taken hard decisions, like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand did some years ago, and what Pakistan is doing now. "We need to change this mentality of dependence - dependence on foreign funds. We need foreign funds for certain projects at certain stages." "But we need a more practical approach when it comes to seeking foreign funds," he said. "I am patriotic - so was my father, my uncle and my grandfather. My father had similar aspirations to see an economically independent country. "Therefore, I think, we need not dance to the tune of foreign funding agencies all the time. Instead we need to develop our own industries," he said. Gramene concept As mentioned earlier, Kotelawala reiterated poverty remains a major issue in the country with about two million people living under the poverty line. As an ardent admirer of local innovations and original thinking, he has also launched several programs aimed at poverty alleviation - the first being the Gramene concept, originated in Bangladesh. "This is a practical way to alleviate poverty and empowers women to take to self-employment by way of providing loans. There are no banks which would offer loans without collateral. But, Gramene does not demand any collateral. The whole concept here is to empower women through income generation activities, funded by us. Through the Gramene program aimed at uplifting the living standards of the poor communities, the company has been able to get 61,000 families out of the poverty line - the yardstick being a Rs. 1,400 monthly income. "I am very happy that we have been able to reach this goal in a short time - and Gramene encourages people to take to self-employment and we guide them to find their own market through trial and error. This way, they are learning to produce perfect products. "We have given loans to a large number of people so far, and our aim is to attack poverty through Gramene," he said. Pointing to the shirt he was wearing, Dr. Kotelawala said that it was sewn by a Gramene beneficiary. "It's not a quality one and buyers won't accept this quality. I bought it for Rs. 350 to support her and to encourage her." The company has not given any marketing pledge to these recipients. Because if it did so, the recipients get stuck at a particular level and they would think whatever they produce, even if it is something of low quality, can be sold to the company without any hassle. They would not consider expanding and improving the quality of the goods, they produce. "We don't want to see this kind of mentality in our Gramene women, we want them to improve their business, be competitive and learn to earn money by making good quality produce and let their business grow step by step." Employing the unemployed Ceylinco has also started a program to provide capital to unemployed graduates to start business ventures. "They can start a business of their choice and so far we have given loans up to Rs. 3 million to 600 graduates and almost all of them are doing quite well in their particular fields. By the end of this year, we are hoping to reach 1,000 mark." A fine example of this is a graduate from Haliela who has started a water bottling plant which is a very successful venture. He has even entered the export market. He said that the company chooses persons through various project proposals sent to them by the unemployed graduates. Dr. Kotelawala also commended the budget proposal to provide facilities to the small and medium industries (SMIs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). "This is a very important sector in any economy," he said. In keeping abreast of innovative ideas, the company now plans to launch a dedicated Agro Bank to support the country's large farming community. "We have applied for the approval to set up an Agro Bank. The approval has been sent to the Central Bank by the Finance Ministry," he said. The proposed bank intends to provide a total package in farming inclusive of loans, lease purchase facilities, storage facility, technology, bio technology, export market, training facilities and other service needed by the farming community. "In Sri Lanka, the majority of the poor community is in the agri sector. Unfortunately our farmers do not own any lands, so that their landlords and the middlemen get the most of their earnings. Therefore, we want to provide them a lease purchase system enabling the farmers to purchase their own lands". This kind of banking concepts are being promoted in China. China has specialised banks - in certain instances, a bank for one particular crop. This is how they have developed the agri sector in that country, Kotelawala added. Developing agri villages in a chosen few areas would be the next step following the Agri Bank. Dr. Kotelawala said that he has a responsibility to pay the dividends to the countrymen by way of launching innovative and community services. "That's why I have developed this group to the present situation. This is a 100% Sri Lankan company with 30,000 employees and 200 companies under its wings. Within the organisation, we have developed a multicultural, multi-ethnic and class-less society. We have no discriminations whatsoever." "Sri Lankan people trust us and they have helped us to grow. In return, we should pay them a dividend. That's why we are into community development programs," he said. |
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