Supporting the Lady Ridgeway and Colombo South Teaching Hospitals during this time of need, Sri Lanka’s leading private sector bank HNB PLC, donated much needed medication necessary for new born babies and pregnant mothers through its flagship ‘HNB Oba Venuwen Api’ initiative.

Given the shortage of medication experienced across the island, HNB continued its flagship CSR initiative established after the onset of the pandemic to assist the health sector when possible with supplies and machinery. HNB AGM Strategy, Priyanka Wijeratne handed over the medications to Lady Ridgeway Hospital Deputy Director - Dr. Santhusitha Senapathi, while HNB Head of Legal, Shiromi Halloluwa handed medications to Colombo South Teaching Hospital Director - Dr. Sagari Kiriwandeniya.

“Our health sector has been one of the most severely affected by the ongoing economic crisis. Given that hospitals have not fully recovered from the hardships brought on by the pandemic, we believe that it is time to step up and ensure that essential healthcare facilities and medication are available to treat patients. The first round of our funds have been allocated to provide our future generations with medication and will soon be followed with support to other areas in the health sector,” HNB Deputy General Manager -CHRO/Chief Transformation Officer L. Chiranthi Cooray said.

Fueled by HNB’s Sustainability Foundation, the Oba Venuwen Api initiative is funded by HNB employees contributing a day’s pay at the onset of the pandemic last year. The Bank matched the staff donation to establish the initiative, which has since been allocated for various projects aimed at uplifting healthcare service to combat the pandemic.

This beneficent project that HNB started has delivered urgently required medication to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital and Colombo South Teaching Hospitals. These generous contributions will also be benefitted by the BH Puttalam, TH Peradeniya, TH Batticaloa, TH Kandy, TH Ragama and TH Kurunegala.

Notably, the Oba Venuwen Api initiative, together with the HNB Sustainability Foundation, also donated Rs. 20 million to revive micro-enterprises across the island last year.

Further, HNB delivered urgently required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to regional hospitals and MOH offices in the country during the height of the pandemic.

HNB Head of Legal, Shiromi Halloluwa handing over the medication to Chief Pharmacist - Shirani D. Amarasinghe, Director - Dr. Sagari Kiriwandeniya in the presence of (from left) HNB Executive - Sustainable Business, Shanel Perera and HNB Head of Services, Roshan Fernando

Photo Captions : HNB AGM Strategy, Priyanka Wijeratne handing over the medication to Deputy Director - Dr. Santhusitha Senapathi in the presence of (from left) HNB Executive - Sustainable Business, Shanel Perera and HNB Head of Marketing, Upul Adikari

Sri Lanka’s premier private sector bank HNB PLC renewed its partnership with Bileeta Ltd., a dominant player in the local ERP space, to provide state-of-the-art ERP solutions to its SME customers at affordable rates.

The exclusive collaboration between the two pioneers enables the Bank’s SME customers to streamline various functions of their business operations, such as sales and invoicing, inventory management, finance, procurement, service management, fixed asset management and manufacturing, and thereby practice efficiency and effective management in the long run. The MoU was signed at HNB Towers in the presence of HNB Deputy General Manager,Retail & SME Banking , Sanjay Wijemanne  and Bileeta Chief Executive Officer, Sanji De Silva to officiate the collaboration.

Commenting on the partnership, HNB Deputy General Manager-Retail & SME Banking , Sanjay Wijemanne  said: “Technology is an essential and often under-rated tool that can build and enhance organisations and even world economies. Companies can develop and expand internally and externally with the proper knowledge, relevant expertise, and strategies, unlocking their highest potential in revenue and business scale.

“With this in mind, we partnered with Bileeta, leaders in the ERP scope, to provide much-needed support in terms of knowledge and application of ERP systems to the SMEs of the country. As key pillars of the economy, SMEs need our support now more than ever. Every little effort counts. We believe that our partnership with Bileeta comes as a tech-enabled support system for businesses struggling with cost management in a financially tight economy. We will continue to identify and implement such impactful initiatives going forward, which we hope will provide relief and reassurance to the SMEs that are at the grassroots of our nation’s prosperity.”

Accordingly, the collaboration ensures that HNB and Bileeta will work together to market, introduce and provide proper functions of the ERP platform, which is named ‘ENTUTION ERP Solution’.

The partnership also enables HNB’s customers to obtain the solution at a discounted rate, excluding training and onboarding charges. The Bank will also work with Bileeta to communicate and identify potential SMEs to introduce the solutions to all regions and thereby aim to uplift the standards of SMEs.

“We have seen Technology bring about rapid and revolutionary growth in organisations. We are truly honoured to partner with HNB to bring about such an impactful move in the SME community. SMEs need our support now more than ever, and we are humbled to extend our expertise in ERP solutions as a helping hand. Together with HNB, we will now be able to assist SMEs to continue their operations seamlessly, bring about income and profit, and strengthen our economy as a whole. We thank HNB for giving us this opportunity to give back to a community that has given us all,” Bileeta Chief Executive Officer, Sanji De Silva shared.

For further information please contact HNB Nethmini on 0112661771 and Bileeta Nerushan on 077439960.

Most recently, HNB sealed its reputation as Sri Lanka’s undisputed leader in retail banking, having been crowned as the Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka for the 12th occasion at the prestigious International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2022 hosted by the Asian Banker Magazine.

The bank’s dedicated fitness related product, HNB FIT, was crowned the ‘Best IoT initiative’ at the Asian Digital Finance Forum and Awards. Hosted by the Asian FinTech Academy (AFTA), the forum recognised and awarded organisations and impactful individuals who drive innovation in the digital sphere.

The digitally-savvy bank further consolidated its position at the LankaPay Technnovation Awards 2022, where it bagged four top awards. HNB was awarded the prestigious Bank of the Year for Financial Inclusivity and Bank of the Year for Excellence in Customer Convenience titles, in addition to being presented with the Silver award for ‘Financial Institution of the Year for Best Digital Payment Strategy’ and Bronze for ‘Overall Award - Excellence in Interbank Digital Payments’ (Banking Institutions) this year.

Photo Caption: HNB Deputy General Manager- Retail and SME Banking, Sanjay Wijemanne (fourth from left) exchanging the MoU with Bileeta (Pvt) LTd, Chief Executive Officer, Sanji De Silva (fourth from right) with (from right) HNB Undergraduate Trainee, Nethmini Morawaggoda,  HNB Head of SME Products and Partnerships, Niluka Amarasinghe, HNB Assistant General Manager- SME,  K. Indravasan, Bileeta (Pvt) Ltd Chief Technical Officer, Sanka Weerasingh, Bileeta (Pvt) Ltd Consultant-Growth Strategy, Dhanushka Weerasinghe and Bileeta (Pvt) Strategic Business Specialist, Nirushana Sydney.

Sri Lanka’s leading private sector bank, HNB PLC, expanded its ‘Walk the Talk’ initiative to promote a more eco-friendly, healthy and economical mode of transportation among its employees on World Bicycle Day in a bid to encourage simple interventions with major potential to reduce the carbon footprints for the bank and its employees.

HNB employees across the island cycled to their workplace on World Bicycle Day, promoting the alternative mode of transportation. Given the fuel crisis experienced by Sri Lankans today, the bank took extra measures to offer bicycles at discounted rates for employees who wished to switch to one of the world’s oldest modes of transportation. HNB also organized changing facilities for its cyclists at HNB Towers and offered each employee a glass of ‘Kola Kanda’ upon their arrival.

“Ever since we first kicked off the ‘Walk the Talk’ challenge in 2018, we have actively been encouraging our employees to choose eco-friendly modes of transportation and a range of other practices that – at scale - have the potential to impact our environment positively. This year, we are excited to focus on cycling, walking or carpooling as one of the most important ways to travel, especially given the fuel crisis we have experienced over the past few weeks.

“We have always worked towards fostering a culture that encourages employees to engage in sustainable, actively social and environment-friendly causes. We are delighted to have received such an exuberant response to our efforts to reduce carbon emissions and support HNB’s journey towards carbon neutralization from our cadre across the island. Moving forward, we are also looking at ways to build on this momentum,” HNB Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer Dilshan Rodrigo said.

In that regard, HNB is also working to further promote cycling by partnering with health and wellness experts to raise awareness and educate employees on the remarkable health benefits of cycling. As a first step, HNB will also establish special bicycle parking bays at its Head Office for employees and customers who travel by bicycle.

HNB Executive Director/COO Dilshan Rodrigo participating in ‘Walk the Talk’ initiative

HNB Dehiwela Customer Centre staff members participating in ‘Walk the Talk’ initiative

Photo Caption: HNB MD/CEO Jonathan Alles (far right) and HNB Executive Director/COO Dilshan Rodrigo (centre) with HNB Head Office staff members participating in ‘Walk the Talk’ initiative on Wold Bicycle Day.