Colombo, April 26, 2007
— IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is organizing a banking road show in Colombo, Sri Lanka to facilitate easier access to finance for local small and medium enterprises. The event, planned by IFC Advisory Services in the region– the SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility – will be held at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre on May 18-19, 2007.
The road show provides a unique opportunity for local small and medium enterprises to meet with several banks that are actively involved in financing smaller businesses under one roof. The participating banks include Commercial Bank, DFCC Bank, Hatton National Bank, Nations Trust Bank, NDB Bank, and Sampath Bank. In addition to consultations with the banks, there will be technical sessions for bankers and SME entrepreneurs on market information on the sector, best practices in SME financing, and training.
“The objective of this event is to bring together small and medium enterprises and financial institutions to facilitate access to finance for smaller entrepreneurs,” said Gilles Galludec, IFC Country Manager in Sri Lanka.
A. L. Somaratne, IFC-SEDF Program Advisor said, “SMEs are finding it difficult to obtain credit from the banks, due to certain structural weaknesses in them. We will be providing them with guidelines on how to address these challenges at training workshops, an important part of the road show.” The training topics will include handling the complexities of loan applications, preparing business plans and financial proposals, and providing information on new banking products for SMEs.
The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka, the Export Development Board, the Industrial Development Board, and the Sri Lanka Export Credit Investment Corporation will also be represented at the road show. These institutions will expand the scope and relevance of the event by advising the entrepreneurs about the incentives and concessions that each offers.
The road show will be held in Matara in October 2007 and in Kandy in March 2008.
About IFC
IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, promotes open and competitive markets in developing countries. IFC supports sustainable private sector companies and other partners in generating productive jobs and delivering basic services, so that people have opportunities to escape poverty and improve their lives. Through FY06, IFC Financial Products has committed more than $56 billion in funding for private sector investments and mobilized an additional $25 billion in syndications for 3,531 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC Advisory Services and donor partners have provided more than $1 billion in program support to build small enterprises, to accelerate private participation in infrastructure, to improve the business enabling environment, to increase access to finance, and to strengthen environmental and social sustainability. For more information, please visit
www.ifc.org
.
About IFC SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility
The IFC SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility is a multidonor funded facility, managed and operated by IFC. It is one of 11 regional programs managed by IFC worldwide. IFC-SEDF is funded by IFC, the governments of the Netherlands and Norway, the European Commission, DFID (United Kingdom), CIDA (Canada), and the Asian Development Bank. Set up to promote the growth of SMEs in the region, it facilitates increased access to finance and provides quality business development services to projects in Bangladesh, Bhutan, northeast India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
IFC-SEDF also works to create a business-enabling environment that is supportive of SMEs and assists in the value addition to firms through sector development, organization-specific advisory services, capacity building programs, training, and research. The ultimate goal is to assist in private sector development to create market opportunities for SMEs and promote economic growth in the region.
In Sri Lanka and Maldives, the facility is jointly funded by IFC and the governments of the Netherlands and Norway.