Business Development Centre opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 17:27 GMT]
The office of the Business Development Centre (BDC) for eastern region was declared open in Trincomalee Tuesday. The BDC Network supports capacity building for the business development services market serving the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Sri Lanka. Trincomalee district Government Agent Mr. Gamini Rodrigo, Business Services Support Facility (BSSF) Executive Director Mr. Mark Van Steenwyk and Mr.Shakila Wijewardene, Managing Director of the Sarvodhaya Economic Enterprise Development Services (GTE) Ltd (SEEDS) jointly declared open the BDC office.


( L-R ) Trincomalee Government Agent Mr.Gamini Rodrigo, SEEDS Managing Director Mr.Shakila Wijewardene and BSSF Programme Executive Director Mr.Mark Van Steenwyk jointly declare opn the BDC eastern regional office in Trincomalee

(L-R) CCITD President Mr.K.Thurairajah and Trincomalee BDC Manager Mr.Ratnam Selvarajah sign the MoU soon after the opening of BDC office

Soon after the opening of the BDC office, the BDC and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Trincomalee District (CCITD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the presence of distinguished gathering. Mr.K.Thurairajah, President of the CCITD and Mr. Ratnam Selvarajah, Manager of the BDC in Trincomalee signed the MoU. The general objective of the MoU is to foster co-operation and exchange in the promotion and development of a sustainable BDS market in Trincomalee district capable of supporting SME sector growth, sources said.

The BDC network consists of six business centres located in five regional economic zones throughout the country with offices in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Kurunagala, Kandy, Colombo and Matara, sources said.

BDC network is owned and operated by three private sector business development organizations: Sri Lanka Business Development Centre (SLBDC); the Industrial Services Bureau (ISB); and the Sarvodhaya Economic Enterprise Development Services (Gte) Ltd. (SEEDS).

SEEDS Managing Director Mr.Shakila Wijewardene speaking at the workshop for the stakeholders held at Hotel Club Oceanic following the opening of the BDC eastern regional office in Trincomalee

Funding for the establishment of the BDC network has been provided by the BSSF under the SME Sectoral Development Programme, a joint project of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Each BDC in the network functions as a business development services (BDS) outreach facilitator to:

• Co-ordinate with other zonal-based BDS facilitators (public, private and donors);
• Promote BDS demand led market development within its economic zone coverage area;
• Provide BDS referral services to BDS providers operating within the economic zone;
• Provide business related technical training and skills to zonal BDS providers;
• Facilitate establishment of BDS information systems and networking between BDS facilitators, providers, and SME stakeholders;
• Participate in the process of regional economic development planning as it relates to zonal opportunities for SME sector growth and expansion,
• Serve as tertiary organizational support structure to the work of the district-level Enterprise Promotion Centre (EPCs);
• Adopt into practice and train district-level EPC staff methodology related to zonal enterprise development;
• Conduct pre-screening for BSSF Matching Grant applications for BDS providers and SMEs; and
• Serve as co-ordinating point within the zone for BSSF initiated and BDS related interventions.

The newly opened BDC in Trincomalee later held a workshop for the stakeholders at the Hotel Club Oceanic, sources said.