Micro finance to support enterprises in the North and East

Lumbini Edirisinghe

Micro finance is a better way to support small enterprises in the grass root level, in the Northern and the Eastern provinces which will enable us to promote micro insurance schemes in an efficient and effective way in these areas, Deputy General Manager-Network Management, Hatton National Bank PLC, Crysanthi Thambiah said.

She was speaking at the Business for Peace Forum on the theme ‘Role of the private sector in the post conflict development of the North and East of Sri Lanka’ organized by Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) last Friday at the Ceylon Continental hotel.

“To achieve rapid development in the Northern and the Eastern provinces we need to improve infrastructure, technology and other basic facilities”, Thambiah said.

Thambiah said the private sector can play a major role to develop the North and the East with the assistance of the Government. Therefore, the banks could play an important role for the development of the North and East.

Once the reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement activities starts, banks and other financial institutes could focus on micro finance activities in the areas to start up small and medium size enterprises at the grass root level, she said.

There are already 11 HNB branches in the North and East and also we to branch out many more in the near future, Thambiah said.

“We are going to identify specific areas where we can invest in successfully and we are really interested in investing in the North and Eas and the the real development should come from small and medium entrepreneurs not from the large scale companies”, FCII(London) chartered insurer and Former CEO and Director, Union Assurance PLC Hydery A Rehmanjee said.

For the medium to large companies to enter the North and the East, we have to improve the productivity level in those areas and these areas can be developed like other parts of the country in its all sector, Rehmanjee said.

Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare Douglas Devananda said that there are potential investment opportunities in the North and the East mainly for farming, fishing and tourism and also aluminum and cement industry.

The Government will facilitate infrastructure facilities in these two provinces to develop the agriculture sector without a delay because this area has a lot of potential for agriculture, Minister Devananada said.

“Effective communication is essential for the social and economic developments of the Northern and Eastern areas. Communication is the bridge for good understanding among each other inspite of being Tamil or Sinhala”, said FCA

Partner Gajma and Co Chartered Accountants N.R Gajendran.