‘Empowering SMEs a challenge’

Ramani Kangaraarachchi

Entrepreneurship is widely seen as a prerequisite for economic development and today businesses are challenged due to stiff competition, rapid development of new technologies and globalization, Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama said. Speaking at the inauguration of the training program on ‘Entrepreneurship Development using the Blue Ocean strategy’ organized by the Colombo Plan, the Deputy Finance Minister said global growth is driven by India and China by developing SMEs.

Empowering SMEs is a big issue in Asia today. Majority of the first 500 companies in India were small entrepreneurs who had skills. Therefore entrepreneurship does not mean only big business. There are millions of people involved in small businesses and they are the backbone of the economy of the country, Dr. Amunugama said.

He said that the so called ‘Indu rate’ of growth of 2 percent’ is over and India is achieving a double digit growth now, similarly Sri Lanka has an ambitious target to gain high GDP growth.

Sri Lanka has done well in the agricultural sector where the country can export rice within the next three to four years.