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Tuesday, 4 March 2014 00:52 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Paying tribute to Sri Lankan women the Bank of Ceylon intends to commemorate International women’s day by presenting a valuable life skill hand book “RKG Jeewana Athpotha and Recipes” for BOC Kantha Ran Ginum account holders. BOC will carry out this promotion from 1 March till 15 March.
A glance through its contents shows that it deals with many aspects of a woman’s life - the different transitions in a woman’s life, customs and traditions in Sri Lankan culture, general life skills - useful good-to-know types of tips (tips on beauty culture, home remedies for common illnesses and managing everyday stress) and over 200 recipes containing some favourites in Sri Lankan cuisine and popular western and Chinese dishes.
Kantha Ran Ginum account (KRG) holders can make themselves eligible to receive this valuable hand book by depositing Rs. 5,000 in an existing Kantha Ran Ginum account or by opening a new account with a deposit of Rs. 5,000 (conditions apply).
Apart from this life skill hand book, the bank will conduct programs at provincial level to educate women on leadership development with regard to facing present day challenges that they will encounter during different stages of life.
Women in Sri Lankan society have been placed in a relatively better elevation than in most parts of the world and they also play a pivotal role in the micro family as a leader without a title. Nowadays role-play has become very challenging as women have to play both the traditional roles of a mother, wife and sister and the non-traditional role of a professional, entrepreneur or as in some cases a highflying executive. Therefore women have to be equipped with the right attitude, knowledge and skills to manage each of these roles as they set about accomplishing their aspirations in life.
BOC as the ‘Banker to the Nation’ is very mindful and takes the responsibility of uplifting the spirit of women through the Kantha Ran Ginum account scheme. This unique account promises an additional 0.5% interest over the normal savings account and a free life insurance cover of Rs. 500,000 until the age of 60 (conditions apply).
The account holder is also entitled to other facilities including an instant loan facility up to a maximum of 90% of the account balance, on-line banking, SMS banking and debit card facility. The Bank of Ceylon further contributes towards empowering Sri Lankan women in rural areas through several unique CSR projects that provide financial and advisory services to the SME sector. One such prominent project is BOC Siriliya Saviya loan scheme for women to realise financial stability and growth.
Currently over 3,500 recipients have benefited by this scheme through which the bank has disbursed over Rs. 600 million. Yet another popular loan scheme is PAMP- Poverty Alleviation Micro-finance Project, through which the bank has enabled over 20,000 women groups with over 100,000 members.
The Bank of Ceylon has invested over Rs. 150 million through this project and has had the pleasure of seeing many of these women entrepreneurs reaching success in almost all aspects of life whilst contributing directly and indirectly towards the community they live in.
