Providing further assistance to the small-medium enterprise (SME) segment, Sri Lanka’s premier private sector commercial bank, HNB PLC, announced the successful completion of a workshop on international trade, aimed at educating HNB’s SME customers in Colombo’s most dynamic business area of Sri Lanka, Pettah.

Part of a continuing programme to help empower SMEs from across the island by inculcating a spirit of entrepreneurship and providing specialised training into the practical and prudent management of such businesses, the recent workshop had over 100 customers gather at HNB’s Pettah Customer Centre—on the topic of ‘Awareness for SME Customers on International Trade.’

The full day session was focused on delivering knowledge to participants on some of the main elements of international trading, such as risks and frauds, impact of the foreign currency market, exchange rate fluctuations, recent changes in the Exchange Control Act and an introduction to the new export credit scheme.

Janath Illangathilake, Assistant General Manager – Trade services, Arjuna Abeygunasekara, Asst General Manager – Treasury, Pathmanathan Srikanth, Senior Manger – Financial Institutions and Exchange Control and Niluka Amarasinghe Senior manager – SME of HNB conducted sessions for participants, explaining details and answering complex questions raised by the audience.

Omar Sahib, Co-Founder/ Chief Executive Officer of WEBXPAY, an e-commerce Software as a Service (SaaS) provider which empowers micro, small and medium businesses in Sri Lanka, conducted a special session for participants on using their service. HNB Deputy General Manager - SME, Jude Fernando and Senior Manager of Pettah Customer Centre, Mathanan Sothiratnam were also present at the workshop.

Addressing the gathering, Managing Director/CEO of HNB, Jonathan Alles said, “International trade is fundamentally important for local SMEs looking to grow and thrive. The prospect of extending a product or services to millions of potential customers stands as a tremendous opportunity for SMEs operating in today’s hyper-connected global economy. Thanks to the expanded reach of mobile and digital technologies, many local SMEs are taking advantage of supply chains that greatly facilitates international trade.”

“Pettah is considered as the ‘business hub’ of Sri Lanka and the SME community around it plays a vital role in elevating Sri Lanka’s booming economy. The realization encouraged HNB to conduct this business awareness program for our SME customers around Pettah in order for them to understand the importance of international trade. Sri Lankan SMEs need to take advantage of the growth opportunities available through international trade and through workshops of this nature, HNB will encourage local SMEs to consider connecting with new suppliers and finding new customers and business opportunities overseas,” Alles said further.

Moving forward, Alles reiterated HNB’s commitment to exploring every possible avenue for empowerment of Micro, Small and Medium businesses in Sri Lanka, particularly through a stronger integration with e-commerce channels, in addition to the bank’s numerous other initiatives aimed at promoting financial literacy and timely and sustainable access to personalized financial solutions.

About HNB: Maintaining an island-wide presence across 251 customer centres, HNB also offers some of Sri Lanka’s most innovative internet and mobile banking services in the country that are designed to usher in a new technology- enabled banking paradigm.

The bank continues to receive local and global recognition for its numerous achievements, including Bank of the Year in Sri Lanka for 2017 by The Banker Magazine UK and a further 10 awards for Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka by the Asian Banker Magazine. Similarly, the bank’s pioneering efforts to serve the Micro and SME sector also continues to win international recognition and set new benchmarks across the Sri Lankan banking industry, with HNB winning the award for Best Microfinance Product in Asia Pacific by the Asian Banker and, winning Best Bank for SME at the Asiamoney Awards 2018.