10th Cargills ‘Village to Home’ supports local SMEs

Chief Guest Ministry of Finance Director General - Development and Finance Geetha Wimalaweera with Yamuna Kumari from Cargills ‘Village to Home’ Team

Cargills Bank Debit card being handed over by Cargills Bank Managing Director/CEO Senarath Bandara to an SME. Lasantha Mahendrarajah and Pradeep Namasivayam from Cargills Bank are also present

Cargills ECE preschool teacher with students of the program

The pandemic has caused many challenges to the agricultural and SME communities across Sri Lanka. Among the challenges was a lack of market access. The Cargills ‘Village to Home’ program was launched with the intention of addressing this issue and supporting the country’s small and medium entrepreneurs by providing them with a platform to engage with a larger network of customers.

The program is a monthly trade fair at Cargills Food City premises, which commenced in the latter part of 2020, for selected SMEs with demarcated stalls to sell their products directly to customers. Cargills bears all expenses related to this program, including the cost of stalls, utility and marketing. To date, over 90 SMEs have taken part in the program.

In addition to a marketplace and an added source of income, Cargills also provides technical support to the SMEs in terms of packaging, labelling and quality assurance, while the Cargills Bank provides financing through low-cost loan schemes. SMEs also stand an opportunity to get their products listed at Cargills while the program has also been able to open markets beyond Sri Lanka for some SMEs. Cargills is committed to assisting entrepreneurs to contribute towards national development.

Cargills has been supporting the agricultural and SME communities of Sri Lanka for over 20 years since the company established its farmer outgrower network in 1999. The Cargills community development program features both dairy and agricultural farmers as well the local SMEs at the heart of it.

The 10th program of Cargills ‘Village to Home’ was successfully conducted on the 26 and 27 February at the Kadawatha-3 Cargills Food City premises.

The 10th program had an exciting array of products on offer ranging from Ayurvedic beauty products, coconut oil and coconut-based products, Aloe Vera jelly and desserts, sugar cane-based products, coir and reed (pan) products to soft toys etc. The products on offer as well as the event were received well by the customers.

The recently introduced Lanka QR payment facility was also available for consumers to make cashless payments, providing added convenience. The National Enterprise Development Authority (NEDA), the Small Enterprises Development Division (SED), the Ministry of Cane, Brass, Clay, Furniture and Rural Industry Promotion, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce have assisted Cargills in the selection of SMEs.

The Cargills Foundation had a special stall at this month’s ‘Village to Home’, with the intention of sharing the work undertaken by their Early Childhood Education (ECE) Program which provides children with an early exposure to English as a second language. The ECE Program aims to improve the lives of children beyond urban Sri Lanka, as exposure to English at a young age helps build confidence in children and stand them in good stead for the future.

The Foundation has developed the ‘Cargills ESL’ home learning pack, which provides access to a digital learning app along with five storybooks. The packs are available at selected Cargills Food City outlets, and all sales proceeds are utilised to fund the Cargills ECE Program which is being implemented in preschools across the island.