HDCC to promote youth business
Hiran H. Senewiratne in Hambantota
Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC) together with the
Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) is now in the process of introducing
business programmes to attract and help disadvantaged youth to the
business world.
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Winners: Mallikage Sumithra, Kaluaruppu arachige Wimalwahti,
Dissanayake Herath Bandage Deepa Erandati Dissanayake, Lalitha
Wanigasinghe, Wjeshighege Pemawathi widow women entrepreneurs
from matriarchal families that have made significant
contribution towards the economy. Picture by Saliya Rupasinghe |
The programme is known as “Youth Business Programme” and will promote
the concept in every single district in the country to help youth in the
country to start up a new business or improve an existing business,
Director General, HDCC, Azmi Thassim told the Daily News Business.
“HDCC took the initiatives to set up the Hambantota Youth Business
Programme (HYBP), to address the problems of the disadvantaged youth in
the area successfully during the last ten years. This concept
popularized in other districts in the country, Thassim,” said.
“Funds from Youth Business International in UK to the HDCC are
dispersed to HYBP and have benefited more than 300 families in the
areas,” he said.
“With the success of their programmes many international
organisations including Macabe Foundation of UK and International Youth
Foundation of USA( Nokia funded programme) have pledged their assistance
to the HYBP,” he added.
“Thassim the founder trustee of the concept said HYBP has come from
UK, where Prince Charles had started such body named “Prince’s Trust” to
assist the disadvantage youth in UK. India was the second country to
adopt this concept by seeing its advantages in Sri Lanka .
Therefore HDCC was the only body to initiate this programme and
implemented it taking UK and India as models,” he said.
“The Prince’s Trust is the funding agent for Youth Business
International in UK which the HDCC gets loans with mentoring for the
HYBP programme in Sri Lanka have shown enormous success,” he said.
The International Widows Day was celebrated at Tangalle, organised by
the HDCC under the patronage of HYBT and Women Development Foundation
for the second consecutive year.
The HYBP was identified as the ideal institution to successfully
introduce International Widows Day in Sri Lanka by fulfilling the
objectives envisaged by the Loomba Trust which is also assisting with
the Prince’s Trust to provide loans and mentoring to the HYBP.
Among the various projects implemented by the HYBP a unique system
for widows of the district was initiated in March 2007 with support and
guidance from the Loomba Trust.
This was designed to help widows commence and develop business and
seventeen beneficiaries have already successfully established their
business and have benefited immensely from the programme. |
