The Commercial Bank of Ceylon recently conducted a Financial Literacy Programme for a group of micro entrepreneurs consisting of green leaf suppliers in the Pitigala area, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The participants of this programme were 150 green leaf suppliers who provide their produce to the Athukorala Tea Factory. The Bank’s objective in conducting programmes of this nature is to enhance the financial literacy levels of micro entrepreneurs.

The resource person for the programme was Mr Rohitha Abeykoon, the Senior Assistant Director of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, who is an experienced speaker on financial literacy and business development.

The programme was attended by Commercial Bank’s Senior Manager –Development Credit Department, Mr Mohan Fernando, the Bank’s Pitigala Branch Manager, Mr K.T.Gamage and other officials from the Bank, Mr D. A. T.Athukorala, Chairman of the Athukorala Group of Companies and Mr Ashoka Hewawasam, the Group’s Managing Director.

Commercial Bank has also supported this customer segment with the launch of a Hybrid Debit Card cum Identification Card powered by Sony ‘FeliCa’ Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. This personalised card enables the automation of the calculation of payments to leaf suppliers. These payments are instantly transmitted to a central server by a data acquisition device, and then transferred to their savings accounts at Commercial Bank.

Commercial Bank has been conducting awareness programmes for micro entrepreneurs in different sectors of business in many areas of the country for the past seven years, and has helped more than 7000 entrepreneurs to date through this programme.

These programs are supported by the Bank’s 16 Agriculture & Micro Finance Units which play a key role in helping the Bank to identify specific needs of entrepreneurs who require assistance to develop either their agriculture activities or micro businesses. These units are dedicated to promote agriculture lending and micro finance.

Commercial Bank’s Agriculture & Micro Finance Units (AMFU) are located in Ratnapura, Narammala, Kandy, Anuradhapura, Kilinochchi, Bandarawela, Wellawaya, Hingurakgoda, Galewela, Achchuveli, Vavuniya, Kattankudy, Tissamaharama, Neluwa, Pottuvil and Akkaraipattu.