HNB injects Rs.20mn as grant fund to support 200 microfinance customers across Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s most MSMEfriendly bank HNB PLC announced the launch of a Rs.20 million grant fund to support 200 microfinance customers affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic across the country.
The fund, established by the bank through the HNB Sustainability Foundation, will offer microfinance customers up to Rs.100,000 to upscale their businesses and work towards achieving the SME status. HNB will grant funds in two phases to chosen microfinance customers, with a view to revive and continue businesses impacted by the pandemic. “I am very pleased to announce the launch of this vital source of funding through our Sustainability Foundation in support of microfinance entrepreneurs. 2020 has been extraordinarily challenging for all and this initiative comes at a most opportune and appropriate moment when businesses across the island are seeking the capital necessary to restart work.
Our expectation is t hat our customers will make good use of this grant, for working capital, recapitalising their business and get back on their feet. As we have worked with t he microfinance sector for more than three decades and SME sector since our origins, we have come to understand that we need to scale up our support by providing them with the necessary financial assistance and literacy to uplift them from the grassroots to become an SME,” HNB Managing Director and CEO and HNB Sustainability Foundation Chairman Jonathan Alles said.
HNB’S Sustainability Foundation drives corporate citizenship through its strategic pillars, with the bank’s Customer Centres across t he island, undertaking location-based CSR projects involving t he community and staff. The foundation’s strategic pillars include education, healthcare, empowering entrepreneurship and environment.
“It has been a long-term goal of the HNB Sustainability Foundation to establish an impact fund to create more opportunities for customers at the grass roots by collaborating with partners locally and internationally. With this fund, we hope to provide livelihoods and act as a catalyst in Sri Lanka’s journey towards sustainable development,” commented HNB Chief Transformation Officer/dgm and HNB Sustainability Foundation Trustee L. Chiranthi Cooray.
HNB has been closely linked to the growth of Sri Lankan enterprises since its establishment and by the 1980s, became the very first private sector commercial bank to enter the MSME sector with the specific purpose of fostering growth and wealth creation in Sri Lanka’s rural economy.
Utilising its extensive network of Gami Pubuduwa officers stationed across Sri Lanka, HNB has successfully pioneered a vibrant model for microfinance that hinges on the cultivation of trusting and long-lasting relationships with grassroots entrepreneurs that extend beyond access to capital to also include vital advisory services and training programmes designed to enhance financial literacy, strengthen enterprises and facilitate export opportunities.