Sudhir Amembal to conduct workshop on operating leases to benefit financial sector

• The Finance Houses Association of Sri Lanka to facilitate 2-day workshop
• UNDP will address importance of green financing
  
   

The Finance Houses Association of Sri Lanka (FHA) will be hosting a two-day workshop conducted by world-renowned expert on financial leasing, Sudhir P. Amembal. 

The full-day workshop titled ‘Driving SME Growth Through Leasing’ will be held on 17 and 18 February at The Kingsbury Colombo and is recommended for senior business managers involved in business development, marketing as well as accountants and finance professionals of the non-banking financial institutions and the banking sector. 

The sessions will focus mainly on operating leasing and the underlying characteristics that will facilitate SMEs to propel their businesses with easy access to capital goods. 

“Apart from the usual traditional products that the banking industry’s portfolios make up, there are plenty of newer financing opportunities to drive the economy,” said FHA Chairman Roshan Abeygoonewardena. “For instance, equipment suppliers can take advantage through Operating Leases and maximise their financial arrangements to benefit both parties. These are some of the opportunities that Sudhir Amembal will discuss during the sessions.”

With SMEs dispersed across geographical locations in Sri Lanka, there is a need and an opportunity to reach out to this sector by offering them incentives, leasing options, and knowledge sharing to encourage them to innovate and improve their products and services. “There is an opportunity for financial institutions to develop and introduce new products and services to enhance this sector,” he added. 

Sudhir Amembal, Chairman and CEO of Amembal & Halladay is the world’s foremost authority in lease education and consulting. He has spearheaded lease consultancy engagements conducted on behalf of over 20 governments including China, Indonesia, Korea, Nigeria, and Russia. These engagements required him to review the overall leasing industry in each country and devise strategic recommendations to facilitate the growth of the industry.

In 2016, Amembal was inducted into the Equipment Finance Hall of Fame by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA), USA. The honour is bestowed on those who have made unique, significant and lasting contributions to the equipment finance industry. Amembal is the first non-lessor to have received this award since the Hall of Fame’s inception.

His company, Amembal & Halladay is the world’s most highly respected training and consulting firm in the field of equipment leasing. The firm has trained over 80,000 leasing professionals throughout the world. Amembal has conducted technical presentations on leasing in over 80 countries.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has endorsed this workshop by coming in as Strategic Partner. In 2011, the UNDP embarked on an island-wide programme to promote sustainable biomass energy production and the use of modern bio-energy technologies. Building on those experiences, best practices and lessons learnt, a second phase, Biomass Energy 2022 was launched to up-scale promising models that support the local biomass industry. The expected outcomes of Phase 2 is to strengthen rural economies, improve living standards for rural communities, sustainably support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large-scale industries, and to ensure growth of technology suppliers for clean and modern biomass technologies. 

“Through our continuous work with the rural communities and our commitment to improve their livelihoods, we have identified small and medium-size business owners who face challenges like access to financing – when trying to expand their businesses,” said UNDP Integrated Knowledge Team Program Coordinator Sampath Ranasinghe.

“Therefore, the banking and finance industry can and must leverage on their resources and networks to formulate real lasting change across these fronts, and to begin pursuing profits with a purpose. There has to be proper channels and financing options to make it more commercially viable for SMEs,” he added. “We are appealing to the financial institutions to support this important sector that is helping to drive economic development through equipment leasing for renewable energy technology.”