Clive Fonseka, Chief Executive Officer/General Manager (center left) and other officials during the award ceremony.
People’s Bank Entrepreneurship Village Competition 2023 winners were recognized and rewarded at a special award ceremony, which was graced by Clive Fonseka, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager.
People’s Bank introduced the Entrepreneurship Villages concept in 2023 to achieve several key objectives, including financially empowering rural communities. The bank aims to achieve this by making financial and non-financial services available and providing concessional credit facilities to absorb them into the formal banking system. The ultimate objective of this program is to strengthen entrepreneurial abilities through the financial and non-financial services offered to these groups and help them develop their products to export standards.
To support this endeavor, People’s Bank’s Development and Micro Finance Department launched the Entrepreneurship Village Competition in 2023 to encourage the establishment of small groups of Entrepreneurial Villages at the regional level. Of 48 People’s Bank Entrepreneurship Villages, 26 qualified for the competition, and the ten best villages were presented with awards.
A large gathering, including Wickrama Narayana, Deputy General Manager— Enterprise Banking, People’s Bank; Naleen Pathiranage, Deputy General Manager— Channel Management; and Manjula Dissanayake, Deputy General Manager—Human Resources, together with Executive Management, Regional Management, Senior Managers and officers of Regional Credit Divisions, Branch Managers, and other bank staff members, participated in the event.
