First ‘Thurunu Diriya’ loan given to youth from Ankumbura

Wednesday, 25 April 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The first loan under the ‘Thurunu Diriya’ loan scheme was awarded by the Bank of Ceylon Ankumbura branch to a young entrepreneur from Ankumbura in the Kandy District recently. The ‘Thurunu Diriya’ loan scheme of the Bank of Ceylon was initiated by the Policy Development Office of the Prime Minister’s Office to uplift young entrepreneurs of the country.

The first recipient of this loan is entrepreneur Asela Tharindu, who owns an online clothing trading platform. Besides his clothing trading solution, daylook.lk, he used Facebook to market his clothing range which already has over 200,000 followers from around the country. As a result, he also has become a job creator by providing opportunities for more youth to be employed in his growing business. He said he plans to use the loan to further develop his business by investing in a robust web-based trading platform soon.

‘Thurunu Diriya’ was launched aiming to provide assistance to young qualified entrepreneurs having novel ideas to improve their entrepreneurship that will contribute to the economic development of the country. This loan scheme has offered a boost to small-scale entrepreneurs who want to take the next step to develop their ongoing business.

Currently, Bank of Ceylon has received a large number of applications from around the country with the Eastern Province branches receiving the most loan applications. The necessary guidance and assistance for the preparation of the project proposal which is the prerequisite for this loan will be provided by the Small Business Development Division Officers in all District Secretariats across the country.

So far, almost 800 applications have been received and are in the evaluation process. For example, the Ratnapura District received nearly 340 applications. According to officers of the Divisional Secretariats, there is a rapid increase of loan applications.

Further details of this loan scheme can be obtained from all Bank of Ceylon branches and Divisional Secretariat offices.