SEOUL: The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Seoul and the Nations Trust Bank jointly conducted a series of five workshops on entrepreneurial education for Sri Lankan expatriates in South Korea, in the regions of Cheonan, Gimhae, Gimpo, Ulsan and Ansan recently. The workshops comprised a specialised programme on entrepreneurial education launched by the Embassy in conjunction with its popular programme Diriya Maga, which is held regularly to raise awareness, and offer counselling to Sri Lankans who live and work in South Korea.
South Korea is home to a vibrant community of Sri Lankan expatriates striving to build a better future for their families in Sri Lanka, resulting in a large volume of remittances from South Korea to Sri Lanka. The embassy’s collaboration with Nations Trust Bank was aimed at offering Sri Lankan migrant workers, who plan to return home, the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of financial management and entrepreneurship that would help facilitate their smooth re-integration into the productive labour force in Sri Lanka. For the first time, the programme introduced a series of focused lectures by renowned Professor, Dr. D. Aminda Methsila Perera, Senior Lecturer of Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, who made succinct presentations on financial management, savings, investment and entrepreneurial skills including how to start a small business, to Sri Lankan employees.
The campaign, conducted under the theme ‘Entrepreneurship: Winning Life’, was conceived by the Remittances team of the bank after a detailed on the ground stakeholder engagement conducted with expatriates and the embassy earlier this year. At these seminars Sri Lankan expatriates were able to meet, learn and build relationships that would help empower them to become successful entrepreneurs. A series of advisory videos were also released during the programme, and were presented by Dr. Amila Methsila Perera, that focused on topics such as ‘Making your dreams come true’, ‘Difference between savings and investment’, ‘Managing expenses according to income’, ‘Registering a Business in Sri Lanka’, ‘Time value of money’and ‘How to accomplish your future goals’. More similar events, videos and publications are planned for the future.
In parallel to the workshops, the embassy officials also conducted their standard advisory and information services on good conduct and etiquette in Korea, employment related issues, benefits of SLBFE registration, prevention of illegal stay in Korea, and protection and safety awareness. A valuable guide book on entrepreneurial education prepared by the Nations Trust Bank in consultation with the Embassy was distributed among the workshop participants.
The programme on entrepreneurial education was organised in coordination with HRD Korea and Migrant Support Centers. Representing the Nations Trusts Bank, Group Company Secretary/ General Counsel Theja Silva, Senior Vice President/ Branch Network Sheahan Daniel and other senior bank staff participated in the workshops. The programme was conducted by the Employment and Welfare Section of the Embassy under the leadership of Counsellor / Employment & Welfare Jagath Batugedara. The programme will be further developed in the future taking into consideration the views and needs of Sri Lankan employees in Korea.
Theja Silva, Group Company Secretary/General Counsel at Nations Trust Bank, heading its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives noted: ‘Sri Lankans living abroad have a lot to offer our country, with the knowledge, capital and networks they have established during their time abroad. If we can empower them early on to start thinking of setting-up businesses in Sri Lanka, while they are still abroad, there will be better opportunity recognition by these expats and their investments can help to diversify and improve our economic standards with transfer of technology and improved working methods.Such entrepreneurial investments by our expats will also create wider benefits for our society including more job opportunities and better choice of products in the market’.
Speaking about the entrepreneurship empowerment campaign, Sheahan Daniel – Senior Vice President – Branch Network at Nations Trust Bank said, ‘There is a heavy flow of foreign remittances to Sri Lanka from Sri Lankans living and working in South Korea, which is a country at the cutting edge of technological advancement. We are facilitating these remittances through our agents in that country and while our services are excellent, we felt that we could do more.
“Earning money alone isn’t enough for a prosperous future and thus we felt the need to educate the Lankan expat community in South Korea on how they can maximize the wealth they are generating; how they can invest their money in Sri Lanka, start businesses of their own and have a proper support and infrastructure system in place for them and their families, particularly when they finally return to Sri Lanka. We are happy to be able to have a visionary like Dr. AmindaMethsilaPerera onboard with us and look forward to continuing with the campaign. The videos and content we are creating not only benefit expats in South Korea, but have the potential to benefit Sri Lankan expats all over the world.”
Nations Trust Bank PLC is amongst the top 30 business establishments in Sri Lanka, ranked by Business Today Magazine and is the benchmark for customer convenience, ably providing a host of financial products and services to a wide range of customers. Nations Trust is also the bank behind Sri Lanka’s first fully digital banking and payments platform, FriMi, now ranked amongst the top 30 digital banks globally by The Asian Banker. The bank operates 93 branches across the country, boasting an ATM network covering 137 locations plus more than 3,500 ATMs on the Lanka Pay Network and is the issuer and sole acquirer for American Express® Cards in Sri Lanka.
