Mr. Samantha Kumarasinghe receiving the award from last year’s winner, Mr. W. K. Wegapitiya, Chairman of Laugfs. |
Banks in Sri Lanka today are no better than the ‘Gini Poli Karayas’ that operate in the unofficial financial market, quipped Samantha Kumarasinghe, Chairman Multichemi Group, who was declared the Sri Lanka Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 and clinched the Platinum Award, organized by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) held at the BMICH last week.
He said that the rate of interest charged by the Sri Lankan banks on borrowings are exorbitant which impacts the industrial and business growth in the country drastically. He was surprised as to why the Central Bank does not intervene in this important matter and urged the President, FCCISL to lobby the Central Bank to get the bank lending rates reduced.
He said that the banks borrow at a very low rate and lend at rates as high as 22 to 32 % that ensures a huge margin for them. He said that he has a factory in Bangladesh and the interest rates scheduled in that country are reasonable and is placed at aound 12 %. He said that the authorities in that country monitor the bank interest rates carefully to maintain the consistency of the margin between the borrowing and lending.
The National Gold Award was won by Ruwan Edirisinghe, Managing Director, RN Construction (Pvt) Ltd. The Young Entrepreneur of the Year award was won by W. Leslie Bernard Perera, Managing Director, Leslie’s Agro Products (Pvt) Ltd while Ms Chandrika Silva, Partner, Sirisara Vilasitha was declared the National Woman Enterpreneur of the Year.
Kosala Wickramanayake, President, FCCISL, welcoming the guests said that the ultimate objective is to recognize the innovations, endeavour and application towards reaching new heights of excellence in the small, medium, large and extra large categories of enterprises in the country.
Ms Leonie M Cuelenaere, Netherlands Ambassador in Sri Lanka, as Chief Guest said that working on building strong socio-economic foundations and promoting economic development are cornerstones for peace. She said that the Sri Lankan private sector has been working under difficult circumstances and are venturing into sustainable development.
Sri Lankan business men and women have done a remarkable job and so each one of them are winners.
She said that to develop and enhance the business climate in Sri Lanka is a great challenge. Sri Lanka is blessed with natural resources, while knowledge, human support and information networking are prerequisites for success in entrepreneurship.
Access to finance, enabling atmosphere are also preconditions for development that has to be provided by technocrats.
She said that Sri Lanka has a thriving private sector and the private sector is a strong force defying the many barriers and its role should not be underestimated as a key component for economic growth of the country. Ms Cuelenaere said that with the Business for Peace Initiative, FCCISL has created an excellent forum in bringing actors from all over the country together.
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