HNB Finance partners with USAID Youlead initiative
Sri Lanka’s leading integrated financial service provider HNB Finance partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid)-funded Youlead initiative to hold a series of specialised workshops and seminars for MSME customers and women entrepreneurs in the country.
“We, at HNB Finance, believe in growth, which corresponds with the development of the country and our expanding customer base across the island. The partnership with Youlead offers us and our valuable customer base the unique platform and opportunity to accumulate the much-needed financial know how.
We believe that these workshops will better prepare our customers, especially women entrepreneurs and those in the MSME sector, to support and grow their businesses and eventually mentor and lead other budding entrepreneurs to kick-start their own businesses,” said HNB Finance Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chaminda Prabath.
The series of seminars and workshops aimed to provide valuable technical and financial knowledge on how to create, sustain and develop a business successfully. Credit executives at HNB Finance also partook in several workshops and seminars to sharpen their skills in guiding customers to reach their financial goals.
“The Youlead project aims to develop and empower Sri Lanka’s talented young women and men to take charge of their own career prospects and economic futures. Entrepreneurship is a vital piece of that future and youth are perhaps best positioned to find a way forward in our rapidly changing world. We are pleased to support HNB’S efforts and expect that some of these young entrepreneurs will be the innovators and large employers of tomorrow,” said Youlead Project Director Charles Conconi.
Youlead is a Usaid-funded programme implemented by the International Executive Services Corps to improve technical and vocational education and training in a bid to increase youth employability in Sri Lanka. Youlead aims to create a more skilled and flexible workforce by undertaking activities that support and strengthen students, teachers, institutions and young entrepreneurs. Youlead will work closely with potential young entrepreneurs to improve their business skills and the quality of their business plans, as well as with financial institutions to enhance their ability to lend to youth-led start-ups.
Youlead works closely with the private sector to ensure that Sri Lanka’s youth are learning market-ready skills that will enable them to quickly transition to employment and be productive employees from day one.