Commercial Bank helps empower sea weed cultivators of North West

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon recently extended its support to sea weed cultivators in the North West of Sri Lanka, as part of the Bank’s ongoing initiative to empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro entrepreneurs with the technical knowledge and financial literacy required to develop their businesses.

The latest programme organised by Commercial Bank’s Mannar Branch and the Bank’s Agriculture and Micro Finance Unit (AMFU) of Vavuniya and Mannar, benefitted 120 sea weed cultivators fromthe Silawathurai, Mutharipputhurai and Arippu areas. The programme was conducted with the assistance of Hayleys Aquagri (Pvt) Ltdand the Central Bank of Sri Lanka – Northern Regional Office.

Presentations were made by Mrs. Ranjini Vijayalan – Senior Manager, Central Bank of Sri Lanka – Northern Region (Financial Literacy) and by Dr. M. Shanmugam – General Manager, Research & Development at Aquagri Processing (Pvt) Ltd. and Mr. K. Sivaram – Head of Business Operations at Hayleys Aquagri.

Mr. Roy Nicholas, Commercial Bank’s Regional Manager Northern Region and Messrs Ruwan Rajapakse, Director, Hayleys Aquagri (Pvt) Ltd. and Prasanna Jayamaha – Executive Officer of the Bank’s Development Credit Department were among the special guests at the seminar.

The Bank also used the opportunity to introduce its new ‘Divisaru’ savings scheme to the micro entrepreneurs and participants,and with the assistance of the Bank’s Development Credit Department, to make them aware of the loan schemes available under Development Credit Lending.

TheMannar Sea Basin has been identified as anideal location for growing sea weed.Sea weed has high medicinal properties and is widely used to produce various types of medical products and food supplements. The high export demand for sea weed can generate substantial foreign income for the country.

The Commercial Bank has conducted similar programmes for SMEs and micro entrepreneurs in areas such as Narammala, Galle, Monaragala, Wellawaya, Badulla, Passara, Bandarawela, Welimada, Weligama, Koggala, Karapitiya, Matara, Batticaloa, Ampara, Jaffna and Vavuniya in the recent past.

The Bank’s Agriculture and Micro Finance Units are located in Ratnapura, Narammala, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Kilinochchi, Bandarawela, Wellawaya, Hingurakgoda, Galewela, Atchuvely, Vavuniya and Tissamaharama. They identify and support people who need financial assistance for Agri/Micro businesses and provide guidance on how to improve their businesses and help resolve difficulties.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for four consecutive years (2011-2014), Commercial Bank operates a network of 242 branches and 610 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The bank  has won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s best bank over several years, and was adjudged one of the country’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in 2013 and 2014. The bank has been rated the Most Respected Bank in Sri Lanka by LMD for the past 10 years, has been the second Most Respected Corporate entity in the country overall for the past four years, and been rated No 1 in Sri Lanka for Honesty in 2013 and 2014 by the magazine.