Cargills joins Central Bank in training SMEs

Chief Guest Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal opening Cargills Village to Home program during the CBSL-Cargills join SME training program held yesterday in Colombo. From left: Cargills Group Deputy Chairman/CEO V. Ranjith Page, Central Bank Deputy Governor Yvette Fernando and Central Bank Deputy Governor Mahinda Siriwardana looks on

 Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal visting the program

CB Deputy Governor Mahinda Siriwardana

CB Regional Development Department Director M.S.K. Dharmawardena

Cargills Bank MD-CEO Senarath Bandara

Continuing its efforts to support the local small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs), Cargills has partnered with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to provide a series of SME training workshops. 

The first workshop was conducted at the Central Bank’s Centre for Banking Studies Auditorium in Rajagiriya yesterday and the inaugural session was held under the patronage of the CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal. 

The event was also graced by dignitaries from the Ministry of Agriculture, state institutions, foreign embassies, international organisations, and academia.

This initiative is an extension of the Cargills ‘Village to Home’ program through which the Company provides the country’s small and medium entrepreneurs with a platform to engage with a larger network of customers by offering stalls at Cargills FoodCity premises. To date, over 90 SMEs have taken part in the program.

Recognising the challenges faced by SMEs in bringing their products to market, such as a lack of financial literacy and awareness about market standards and technology, Cargills plans to offer training workshops for small business owners in collaboration with the Central Bank’s financial literacy training program.  Attending SMEs will gain a comprehensive understanding on basic financial literacy, packaging and product development, and quality assurance. 

The Company intends to develop these small business owners into successful entrepreneurs who can meaningfully contribute towards the local economy. – Pix by Ruwan Walpola