Sri Lanka’s DFCC Bank joins USAID to support local MSMEs
Sri Lanka’s DFCC Bank has reportedly entered into a landmark partnership with the US Agency for Industrial Development (USAID)/CATALYZE Private Sector Development Activity (PSD), implemented by the Palladium Group, to finance micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), with a focus on women-led enterprises.
According to reports, the partnership was officially entered into with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two organisations recently and the partnership is to target certain high-growth sectors including tourism, ICT, commercial care, apparel, food processing, and others.
Explaining the significance of the partnership, DFCC Bank Director/CEO Thimal Perera has been quoted as saying, “As the bank for everyone, we’re very pleased to announce this partnership, as it will truly enable us to provide and create opportunities for growth and development for Sri Lankan businesses of all sizes.
“We are very much aware of the challenges faced by MSMEs, and this special partnership will enable us to strengthen the competitiveness of our high potential industries, while also helping to effectively engage women as business owners and employees. DFCC Bank will also provide advisory services and other non-financial assistance to guide MSMEs towards the path to success.”
The partnership between DFCC Bank and USAID Sri Lanka is aimed at focusing around three primary objectives, linked together by the core theme of inclusion and promotion of women – create improved capacity and competitiveness among MSMEs, to increase accessibility and availability of financing for these businesses, and to increase economic resilience to help overcome the impacts of Covid-19 on Sri Lanka’s economy.
The project is to also focus on sectors with a high potential for inclusive growth, through a partnership-led approach and by deploying results-based incentives to catalyse new markets and will also apply a gender-lens across all sectors, to help create and target opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s expanding economy and growing business/investment opportunities have opened up new opportunities for the country’s MSMEs as well as start-ups. Sri Lanka’s economy has shown great resilience to external and internal challenges through the years and is once again on the path to recovery after facing challenges posed by the pandemic and its aftermath. However, the country’s economic expansion backed by it’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean and the many trade ties have further boosted Sri Lanka as a growing business destination in the South Asian region. All these and the ongoing development programme have all helped open new business/investment opportunities for the country’s MSME sector and start ups. This has presented many attractive business/investment opportunities for foreign businesses/investors looking at doing business with Sri Lanka given the growing business potential. The many trade agreements and trade concessions enjoyed by the country could also help increase the business potential in Sri Lanka’s MSME sector and start-ups.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/18052022/Z_2 |