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Sri Lanka’s Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Industries (COSMI) President Nawaz Rajabdeen and FEMpower Founder Chamari Gunawardana sign MoUs on 15 September in Colombo
A quarter of Sri Lanka’s MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise) sphere is set to reap benefits as a result of the latest pact signed between a leading MSME support Chamber and a Women Entrepreneur Network on 15 September in Colombo.
“The FEMpower Women Entrepreneurs Network plays a commendable role in supporting Sri Lankan women entrepreneurs,” said Sri Lanka’s Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Industries (COSMI) President Nawaz Rajabdeen on 15 September.
“COSMI is pleased to join with them to support Sri Lankan women to achieve their entrepreneurial goals. This collaboration will open the door for women entrepreneurs to acquire the necessary knowledge and know-how,” Rajabdeen added.
Rajabdeen was speaking immediately after COSMI and FEMpower Founder Chamari Gunawardana, signed an MoU inking their commitment to providing knowledge, skills, information and linkages to women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. At the same event, Gunawardana also joined the COSMI Board, creating a closer alliance to serve Sri Lankan women entrepreneurs. The board members of COSMI congratulated FEMpower for their remarkable success in creating a vibrant and interactive platform for women entrepreneurs during a very short spell of time.
“The COSMI mission is to revive the Industrial Sector in Sri Lanka through MSMEs, with a vision to transform Sri Lankan MSMEs into world-class ventures. COSMI links together MSMEs from all 25 districts, and women and youth empowerment is a key priority for COSMI. A quarter of all registered Sri Lankan MSMEs are women-owned. Women-owned micro enterprises alone are around 246,000, which is 26.3% of all registered MSMEs. Today’s MoU will create a host of benefits and opportunities for them, starting from supporting the members of FEMpower network, which exceeds 2500 women entrepreneurs,” said Rajabdeen.
“It would open the door for them to acquire the necessary knowledge and know-how through the marketing and technical input that COSMI is able to provide, including linking with international markets. The COSMI Board congratulated FEMpower for their remarkable success during a very short period of time, and pledged their conviction in helping women entrepreneurs across 25 districts in the country.”
Gunawardena said that the new collaboration will boost the keen and striving entrepreneurial community in her network. «As a female entrepreneur, these days there is an opportunity to connect with other women in business. Women are escaping from their corporate jobs to go out on their own, stay-at-home moms are looking for ways to make money and, in general, women seem to be very attracted to entrepreneurship. More women-owned businesses are in Sri Lanka now than 20 years ago. Linking up in this way also stimulates creativity and innovative thinking through interaction with a community of entrepreneurs with diverse business backgrounds».
According to the Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka has more than one million registered SMEs. 24.8% of all SMEs are women-owned and many more women engage in MSMEs in other roles. Taken together with other micro enterprises and SMEs that are not registered, the MSME’s present a sizeable contribution to the economy – an estimated 52% or more of its GDP.
The rise in female entrepreneurship has resulted in a growing number of women-focused resources and networks. Women cannot solely depend on gender-specific groups to prepare their entrepreneurial journey to the next level, which underscores the significance of the COSMI-FEMpower collaboration, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Census and Statistics Department, Sri Lanka has 1.019 million registered MSMEs, of which 91% are micro enterprises. The Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Industries (COSMI) was formed in 2019, and aims to revive and foster the MSME and industry sectors of Sri Lanka.
