FCCISL-organised Investor Forum in Trinco a resounding success

The Investor Forum held in conjunction with the Trincomalee Trade Fair organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Trincomalee District (CCITD) on a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) initiative, in collaboration with FCCISL, was a resounding success.

The forum was held at the Hindu Cultural Hall, Trincomalee on 29-30 October.

Organised with the focus on SMEs development and objective wise, the forum’s attention was directed towards investment opportunities in Sri Lanka following the end of the north and east conflict, to create a platform for importers, exporters, service providers, buyers, sellers, those looking for investment opportunities, investment promotion agencies, exporters who wish to find products for export, local suppliers of finished products and raw materials and logistics providers to meet at one venue.

An excellent programme was formulated to provide SMEs in Trincomalee with a good basic knowledge on important business topics in order to enhance and further develop their business capacity. The topics discussed ranged from labor concerns in business investment opportunities in Trincomalee, networking opportunities for market oriented agro enterprises through FCCISL to banking services for SMEs and trade facilitation for business development by FCCISL and chambers.

The resource persons involved were Bandula Haputhantrie, Senior Assessor, Department of Inland Revenue, Chamitha Hemantha Gamage, District Commissioner of Labour, Trincomalee, S. Uhanathan, Deputy Director, Agriculture Department, Eastern Provincial Council and Urmila Senthilkumaran, Program Coordinator, OxfamGB, Trincomalee.

 A very informative and interesting presentation was made by R. Rajarammohan President CCITI who highlighted opportunities available for canning of tuna fish, expansion of tourism, creating handicraft items out of sea shell, potential for agro related ventures and the availability of land (mainly focused on investors from Colombo).

Session III, which was ‘Networking Opportunities for Market-Oriented Agro Enterprises’ was the highlight of first day sessions with S. Uhanathan , Deputy Director, Agriculture Department, Eastern Provincial Council making a presentation on Investment Opportunities In Agriculture Sector and Urmila Senthilkumaran, Program Coordinator, Oxfam GB, Trincomalee presented views on same. This session was supported by CHEER Project of FCCISL, fully funded by EU-ACAP Project.

Sam Stembo, National Project Director of FCCISL CHEER project made a presentation, introducing the role and function of the project in facilitating investment with special focus on agro related enterprises.

Delakshan Hettiarachchi, Chief Manager, Development Credit Department, Commercial Bank, Colombo, K.D.J. Perera , Asst. Regional Manager ,People’s Bank, Trincomalee, S. A. Thayalanesan, Assistant Manager, Bank of Ceylon, Trincomalee, S. Sunthareswaran, Branch Manager, Hatton National Bank, Trincomalee and Asantha Punchihewa, Relationship Manager, Development Banking Division, Sampath Bank, made very informative and interesting presentations on ‘Why is the SME Sector Vital for our Country and Banks?’ ‘How are SMEs Different to Corporates,’ ‘Bank’s Approaches to Lending to SMEs’ – Past, Present and Future, ‘Matching SMEs and Bank’s Expectations in Lending’ and ‘New Approaches to Lending’.

CCITD followed-up on the outcome of these meetings and has obtained excellent feed-back from the Colombo businessmen and the participants from Trincomalee.