People’s Bank and CA Sri Lanka to offer SME Mentoring Programme

People’s Bank has partnered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) to provide a timely boost for Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) customers of the bank through a mentoring programme.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signifying the partnership was exchanged by People’s Bank Chairman Sujeewa Rajapakse and CA Sri Lanka President Sanjya Bandara at an event held at CA Sri Lanka Headquarters in Colombo recently.

Also present were People’s Bank Chief Executive Officer/ General Manager Ranjith Kodituwakku, CA Sri Lanka SME Task Force Chairman Lakshman Abeysekera, CA Sri Lanka Council Member and Alternative Chairman for the CA Sri Lanka SME Task Force Anoji De Silva, CA Sri Lanka Chief Executive Officer Dulani Fernando, CA Sri Lanka Head of Business School and Member Relations Division Niroshi Siriwansa, People’s Bank Deputy General Manager (Enterprise Banking) Krishani Narangoda, Assistant General Manager (SME) Wickrama Narayana, Senior Manager (Project Finance and Rehabilitation Unit) Chamari Perera.

The SME Task Force of CA Sri Lanka invited People’s Bank to join hands to promote SMEs in Sri Lanka through a mentoring programme for selected customers of the bank. 

Through this partnership CA Sri Lanka aims to help People’s Bank customers on a one-to-one basis by appointing Mentors on financial and other business related issues free-of-charge for a maximum period of one year. Accordingly, People’s Bank has been requested to select export or ICT customers from its large base of SME customers spread across the country.

Once the potential SMEs are selected by the bank, CA Sri Lanka will appoint a mentor for each customer the People’s Bank mentor coordinates with the customers (mentees) and with CA Sri Lanka mentors. 
The programme commences after the signing of a formal agreement between the respective mentee and CA Sri Lanka. Initially, the mentees will be provided consultation virtually and subsequently they will be visited twice a month by CA Sri Lanka Mentors for closer cooperation and monitoring. 

The bank’s mentors are responsible for directing and guiding the respective mentees continuously so that they are able to obtain the maximum benefit from the mentoring programme during the one year period. 
The mentees will be provided relevant information in the form of reading material and booklets in Sinhala and English by CA Sri Lanka, which provides knowledge on financial and other areas of their business operations. 
During the mentoring programme, the mentees as well as their company accountants will be provided consultations. CA Sri Lanka Mentors are supervised and evaluated by CA Sri Lanka continuously in order to ensure that the partnership benefits the mentees and the required goals are achieved.

If a mentee requires the service from the CA Sri Lanka mentor beyond the initial one year period, it can be continued based on a new agreement which will be made on new terms and conditions.