DFCC Bank unveils new incubator for youth looking beyond conventional careers

Aiming to encourage Sri Lankan youths to look beyond conventional career options after ending their school or university education, the DFCC Bank has established a youth entrepreneurship incubation centre promptly responding to the 2018 ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ budget call.

The bank has been giving its full support to the SME sector by setting up a specialised unit for the growth and development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the new incubation centre is functioning under this unit, Director/CEO of DFCC Lakshman Silva told the Business Times.

This unit was established to dispel the view of traditional banks that small business enterprises (SBEs) are too small, risky and costly, he said.

It is also intended to exclusively deal with SBEs and all their micro financing needs. It is also responsible for generating business, evaluating credit, obtaining approvals, following up and recovering facilities extended to SBEs.

The new incubation centre provides entrepreneurship assistance in such forms as training courses, consulta- tions, free temporary offices, and business matching.

It is a unique and highly flexible combination of business development processes, infrastructure and expertise designed to nurture new and small businesses by helping them to survive and grow through the difficult and vulnerable early stages of development, he said.

The DFCC is engaged in providing MSME lending through various credit lines, he said adding that the business incubator will also help young entrepreneurs to find seed capital to start their ventures.

In addition to a host of incentives for the SME) sector, the government will allocate Rs. 10 billion to set up an enterprise development bank to give long term loans without collateral for entrepreneurs.

Supporting the innovation culture and start-up companies, the budget has introduced the “Erambuma” Credit Scheme where university graduates with viable business ideas are eligible for this scheme.

The maximum loan will be Rs. 1.5 million per idea per person and the interest is 100 per cent subsidised by the Government with the repayment fully guaranteed through a Government guarantee.