Supporting the capacity development and growth of the Small and Medium Enterprises sector, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce recently held a series of workshops to facilitate SMEs’ entry into international markets.

The Enterprise Transformation and Market Access (ET&MA) programme, developed and conducted by the Ceylon Chamber’s Centre for SMEs together with VSSL Global, offers mentorship, guidance and training to SMEs seeking to enter the global market. Encouraging SMEs to develop innovative products, increase competition and generate employment, ET&MA is a proven model that enables SMEs to develop a comprehensive export strategy, and achieve success both in domestic as well as international markets. The versatility of the model ensures that it can be applied across a variety of sectors including manufacturing, trading, and services, with equal effectiveness.

Over 75 SMEs from the Colombo, Gampaha, Puttalam, Galle and Ratnapura districts in industries including agriculture, fisheries, garments, Ayurveda, food and beverages, and manufacturing, benefitted from the series of workshops, with the most recent being ‘How to find buyers for your export product’, which was followed by matchmaking with international buyers and consultancy services for SMEs. Companies that have completed the ET & MA training can benefit from one-on-one coaching sessions, enabling them to execute the Export Strategy developed as a result of the training.

Widely acknowledged as a key driver of change for inclusive economic growth, regional development, employment generation and poverty reduction, the ET & MA programme aims to contribute towards the sustainability of the SME sector which will play a vital role in national economic recovery

Corporate partners for the series of workshops were National Development Bank, Seylan Bank, InsureMe and Fedex.