Thursday Oct 29, 2026
Thursday Oct 29, 2026
Thursday, 29 October 2026 05:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sri Lanka yesterday formally joined the global Orange Movement as the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) signed an MoU to bring Orange Bonds into the local capital market.
Orange Bonds channel capital to gender equality and climate resilience. The CSE also announced completion of the framework for the country’s first two Orange Bonds, with issuance targeted by December 2026. Alliance Finance Company PLC, named by CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike as the first issuer, plans to raise Rs. 1 billion through Orange Bonds, while the second company is still working out details.
The MoU was signed at the Orange Economy Summit 2026 in Colombo, convened by IIX with the Lanka Impact Investing Network (LIIN) and the CSE. The summit brought together senior Government representatives, capital market regulators, development partners, investors and financial institutions.
The MoU integrates the Orange Bond Principles into the CSE’s Green, Blue, Social, Sustainability and Sustainability-Linked (GSS+) Bond regulatory framework, which became effective last year and is based on principles of the International Capital Market Association. This allows future issuers to access the Orange Bond market through existing listing infrastructure, removing a structural barrier to market growth.
IIX also launched a research paper on financing Sri Lanka’s Orange Economy. The paper sets a target of accessing $ 500 million in Orange Capital mobilised by 2030 for South Asia, a pool now open to Sri Lanka. It also targets an increase in women-owned enterprises’ share of MSME lending from 28% to 35% by value.
Figures presented at the summit showed that women-owned enterprises accounted for 46% of MSME loans by number but only 28% by value, while their non-performing loans were lower at every reporting bank. IIX described them as an underpriced, underserved and high-quality customer base.
IIX plans to work with the CSE and issuers to bring the first Orange Bond issuers to market by December. One issuer has already announced its plans, with pricing a key consideration. IIX will also develop an investment readiness standard with local enterprises and issuers so that more Orange Bonds can be issued under the framework. It will also work with enterprises, investors and issuers to make impact measurement central to raising capital.
IIX positioned the Orange Movement as a business opportunity rather than corporate social responsibility, saying first movers would win customers, capital and reputation. It urged banks and financial institutions to identify their Orange portfolios and develop their first Orange products. It also called on development partners and investors to provide guarantees and catalytic capital to help reach the 2030 target.
The Orange Movement, launched by IIX and its partners in 2022, is the world’s largest coordinated initiative to mobilise private capital for gender equality and climate resilience. It aims to mobilise $ 15 billion by 2030 to empower 150 million women and underserved communities worldwide, with $ 500 million earmarked for South Asia. IIX Founder and CEO Prof. Durreen Shahnaz said that in four years the movement had reached six continents, mobilised over $ 2 billion and impacted 3.5 million lives.
Prof. Shahnaz said IIX had committed to reaching more than 1.2 million women and their families in Sri Lanka by 2030. She said IIX had invested close to $ 8 million in Sri Lanka so far, reaching over 8,000 lives, most of them women and their families.
Referring to the South Asia allocation, Prof. Shahnaz said: “If Sri Lanka’s markets and institutions are ready, a significant share of the capital can be invested right here.” “I urge you not to treat this summit as a ceremony. Treat it as a starting line. Make a pledge to bring the Orange Movement into your institution, your portfolio and your market,” she said.
Prof. Shahnaz noted that only 32% of Sri Lankan women were in the labour force, describing the gap as ‘growth left on the table’. A quarter of working women were employed in agriculture, and smallholder farmers, fishing families and women running businesses from home were the first to be hit when Cyclone Ditwah struck last year, she said.
“Sri Lanka has set itself the goal of growth of about 7% to become a $ 120 billion economy by 2030. Public finances alone cannot carry that growth target. Bring in women, minority communities, persons with disabilities, and the 7% growth target stops being a stretch,” Prof. Shahnaz said.
LIIN Chairman Chandula Abeywickrema said high borrowing costs remained a major obstacle for small businesses, with micro-entrepreneurs paying interest rates of 14% to 20%, and sometimes as high as 30%. “How can any entrepreneur pay that kind of interest?” he asked.
Drawing on four decades in banking and finance in Sri Lanka and Asia, Abeywickrema said a country’s future development would be measured not by how many people worked as employees in the public and private sectors, but by how many entrepreneurs it had. He said LIIN had pioneered access to private equity for entrepreneurs, the first such initiative in Sri Lanka.
Abeywickrema said capital should not be restrictive and must come in different forms to suit different sectors and people, while being available, accessible and affordable. Entrepreneurs also needed hand-holding, not just loans or grants, he said.
Bandaranaike said the CSE was in talks with other prospective issuers and was sure Alliance Finance Company PLC’s move would encourage many of them to follow a similar path.
He said women were one of the most significant sources of untapped economic potential in Sri Lanka. Many still faced obstacles in accessing finance, expanding their businesses and entering new markets, leaving commercially viable enterprises undercapitalised, he said.
He said Orange Bonds were not confined to a single industry. They applied a gender lens across the economy and treated gender inclusion as an investable economic opportunity, opening the market to financial institutions, corporates and other entities, he said.
However, he cautioned that good intentions alone did not make a successful financial instrument. An Orange Bond must be backed by sound financial fundamentals, appropriate governance, transparent use of proceeds and reliable impact measurement, he said. “The social objective cannot be a substitute for financial discipline. Rather, the two must reinforce each other.”
Bandaranaike said Sri Lanka’s capital market had recorded over 12 GSS+ Bond issuances, mobilising more than Rs. 90 billion, and that GSS+ Bonds accounted for 40% of listed debt raised last year.
“The true value of a capital market should not be measured only by the capital it mobilises, but also by the economic opportunities that capital helps create,” he said. “When we invest in women’s potential, we are not merely investing in women, we are investing in the future of our economy.”
- Pix by Shehan Gunasekara
