CCC empowers regional SMEs to go global
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the main business chamber of the
country has conducted a series of workshops in the regions of Uva,
Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central with assistance provided by the
Asia Foundation. These were successfully conducted with the help of the
regional chambers in the relevant districts. A large number of regional
SMEs actively participated at these workshops which were held in Galle,
Kandy, Badulla, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara and Jaffna.
Awareness on improving the quality and presentation of their products
will enable a large number of small and medium manufacturers in the
regions to supply their products to super market chains and command a
high price by reaching out to the high end domestic consumer market. An
area where they need education in this respect is on the importance of
having a bar code for their products, understanding the mandatory
labeling and standards requirements as well as importance of these as a
tool for marketing their products. It is imperative that they adhere to
these basic requirements, for them to elevate their level of production
in terms of quality and to be able to access super market chains and
reputed retail stores to sell their products. Not only do they lack
awareness on the importance of these, they also need to be made aware of
the procedure and costs of adhering to these requirements. Success in
the domestic market will pave way for some of the SMEs to eventually
reach out to the international market.
Lack of awareness/information on export and import procedures greatly
limit the ability of regional SMEs to trade with the rest of the world.
It was found that there were many regional businesses which were keen to
import raw materials/machinery required to upgrade their production.
Further, there were a number of SME level producers who were keen to
know how they could become direct/indirect exporters.
The awareness on import/export procedures and trade facilitation was
carried out with the support of the Export Development Board and the Sri
Lanka Customs.
Another objective of these workshops was to enhance their awareness
on the importance of implementing trade facilitation measures in Sri
Lanka thereby increasing the ability of regional businesses to engage in
international trade. Automation of procedures and simplification of
processes will greatly save time and money spent by regional SMEs to
come to Colombo to obtain various approvals/certification required for
both export and import.
Another target of these workshops was to train the officials of the
regional chambers who can acquire the necessary knowledge by attending
these workshops.
For more information on regional training programmes could be
obtained from [email protected] |