Celebrating a key milestone in its journey in supporting Small and Medium Enterprises, Sri Lanka’s leading private sector bank HNB PLC, completed another round of capacity building workshops in partnership with PPOD Consultancies, a premium capacity building and consultancy firm in the country.

HNB completed the second round of financial literacy workshops aimed at enhancing the knowledge base of SME entrepreneurs, especially in areas such as accounting, finance, cash flow management, investment, bookkeeping, basics of taxes, IT and other specific capabilities based on each industry. As part of the agreement, HNB SMEs will gain access to a knowledge base that assists them in building a comprehensive business plan, including expansion of business operations locally and internationally, upgrading facilities, HR and productivity management, investments and consolidations.

“A company's growth hinges on its ability to take intelligent, informed decisions, particularly in managing and optimizing expenses across day-to-day operations, and channeling investments towards business expansion. Especially given the current economic condition, it is vital that all SMEs are provided with the knowledge necessary to make accurate and timely financial decisions, and secure their long-term viability. Hence, we are delighted to be working with PPOD Consultancies to train, guide and support our SME customers and lead them towards sustainable growth,” HNB Head of SME Products and Partnerships Niluka. T. Amarasinghe said.

“We are honoured to continue providing our expertise for such an important cause. Our shared goal is to strengthen SMEs, and help them gain the resilience needed to grow and tap into new markets. Ultimately, we hope that these continuous workshops can guide in uncovering their own entrepreneurial mindset, and ensure that they take financial and management decisions based on a sound understanding of business fundamentals,” PPOD Consultancies Senior Trainer and Consultant Stephen Paulraj said.

Previously, PPDO conducted Four workshops for HNB SME customers within the year 2022. SMEs participating in the workshops have access to development programmes in any preferred language (Sinhala, English and Tamil). The programmes are conducted by experts and pioneers in the field who have previously conducted similar sessions with HNB.

With 256 customer centres, HNB is one of Sri Lanka’s largest, most technologically innovative banks. It has won local and global recognition for its efforts to drive forward a new paradigm in digital banking. Consolidating its reputation for banking excellence, HNB bagged the Best Retail Bank and Best SME Bank awards in the Banking category at the International Finance Awards 2021. The bank was also ranked among the World Top 1,000 Banks list compiled by the prestigious UK-based Banker Magazine for five consecutive years. HNB was also declared Best Sub-Custodian Bank in Sri Lanka at the Global Finance Awards 2020. HNB has a national rating of AA- (lka) by Fitch Ratings (Lanka) Ltd.

Photo Captions : Workshops conducted for HNB SME customers