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Berendina Microfinance Institute opens in Batticaloa

Monday, 23 December 2013 00:48 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Berendina Microfinance Institute (BMI) opened its first branch office in the Batticaloa District on 17 December 2013 expanding its branch network to 18 with five branches in the Eastern Province. The branch is expected to work with communities in the Vakarai, Kiran, Valaichenai and Oddamavadi DS Divisions. The branch was declared open by the Berendina Group Chairman Dulan De Silva. Also present at the opening ceremony were BMI General Manager Charith Fernando, Berendina Development Services (Gte) Ltd. General Manager Eroshan Algaratnam and BMI Area Manager - East Thiruchelvam Esvaravel. The Guest of Honour was Chief Executive Officer of the Palm Foundation Sunil Dombepola. Rajany Yoganathan will be the Branch Manager of the BMI Batticaloa branch. BMI’s interest rate at 12% (flat) average is the lowest among all NGO and private sector agencies. BMI provides loans for income generating activities such; as expansion of small enterprises, agriculture and dairy sectors and asset building loans for activities such as house repairs, toilet constructions, electricity connections etc. Loans for emergency situations such as health, education requirements etc are also provided. A unique feature of BMI is a credit plus approach; through which BMI provides its customers training in skills development, market linkages, exposure visits to improve current practices of entrepreneurs. BMI also offers additional services to clients, including health insurance, eye care, vocational training scholarships and educational scholarships for children of poorer clients. Currently, BMI has a client base of 62,000.

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