HNB partnership to empower youth skills

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

Empowering the youth of Sri Lanka, the Hatton National Bank (HNB) entered into partnership with eight leading corporate businesses to broadbase opportunities for youth under its Yauwanabhimana initiative.

The programme is aimed at providing those between 18 to 30 years with resources, skills and tools they need to become more employable individuals with the ability to obtain employment in the corporate sector or successfully manage self-employment endeavours of their own.

The eight partner entities of the youth empowerment programme are Hayleys, CIC, DIMO, Dialog, Holcim, the British Council, the Colombo University and the World University Society of Canada.

This initiative is a collective power of respected corporate businesses and will adopt a clinical process following an in-depth research.

There will be five key areas of focus such as corporate business, construction, telecommunication, mechanical engineering and agriculture to harness youth potential, HNB Managing Director and CEO Rajendra Theagarajah said.

“We need to prevent the uprisings that Sri Lanka experienced in the past by offering the youth to embark on a journey to realize their full potential. The aspirations of young people could be fuelled through initiatives such as Yauwanabhimana and that could change their mindset to go beyond expectations,” HNB Marketing and Retail Deputy General Manager Chandula Abeywickrama said.

The HNB Yauwanabhimana will also provide special financial services such as savings, lending and loan facilities.

These also include education loans, vehicle loans, personal loans, housing loans and micro finance loans tailored to suit the requirements of a budding generation of business minded youth.