Standard Chartered continues commitment to Jaffna enterprises

Standard Chartered’s financial literacy presenter Sivanandan Marimuthu travelled once again to Jaffna last week together with members of the bank’s leadership team to deliver yet another session on entrepreneurship and best business practices for women householders embarking on business ventures.

The session was one more in the series planned, and is a reiteration of the Bank’s commitment to building capacity on basic business skills, financial capabilities and providing access to business networks in the North and East of the island with a special focus on women widowed by the civil war. British Deputy High Commissioner Robbie Bulloch and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director for South Asia Neil Crompton, who were making an official visit to Jaffna on the day, took time to interact with the participants of the session.

Standard Chartered Head of Corporate Affairs Sanjeewani de Silva, speaking at the session said: “The Bank is happy to provide the training resources from within its own cadre to facilitate these sessions and share expertise and experience. The response from attendees has been extremely positive and it is wonderful to be making a difference with such a meaningful and productive impact. These women are truly inspiring.”

Standard Chartered’s micro financing and financial literacy programs in Jaffna are in furtherance of the Memorandum of Agreement signed with Youth Business Sri Lanka, a project of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. The Bank is investing US$60,000 on this project which will benefit over 150 recipients within a 2 year cycle. The micro-financing facilities were made possible for Standard Chartered, which has no presence in the peninsula, via the assistance of Hatton National Bank, which will disburse the loans to the recipients on the Bank’s behalf. The interest generated through this will be reinvested in the recipient’s communities with a focus on improving available healthcare facilities.

Standard Chartered Bank will continue to share financial knowledge and expertise as well as business counselling, with these young men and women of Jaffna, to improve livelihoods and provide platforms from which small scale enterprise can enter the mainstream of developmental activities, in keeping with its brand promise, Here for good.