Fostering Sustained and Inclusive Economic Growth in Sri Lanka
Through various grants, USAID CATALYZE supports micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises.
Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) drive economic growth and job creation, yet often lack access to timely and affordable financing to increase their competitiveness.
The USAID CATALYZE Private Sector Development (PSD) activity increases the competitiveness of Sri Lanka’s MSMEs in high growth sectors, including food processing, apparel, tourism, information and communication technology, and the commercial care industry while expanding women’s economic opportunities through increased access and availability of financing.
With a focus on increasing women’s participation in the labor force and women’s entrepreneurship, the project improves market linkages, encourages the adoption of new technologies, increases innovation, and strengthens professional development to accelerate the growth of MSMEs. Additionally, the project supports enterprises throughout Sri Lanka to build economic resilience to the impacts of COVID-19.
Meet Our Grantees
Francis Jasmin is the CEO of Nature Wins, a cashew processing firm based in her hometown in Pooneryn, Northern Sri Lanka, an area that was hardest hit and still recovering from the country’s prolonged civil war. Jasmin started her business to help provide employment opportunities to people with disabilities and female-headed families. As a small business holder, Jasmin found it economically challenging to invest in new machinery that would help increase production and her business’ competitiveness, especially in the face of COVID-19-related economic challenges.
With PSD grant support, Jasmin was able to increase production capacity, improve product quality, and launch a new branding and marketing strategy. These activities have not only helped Jasmin expand her business and reach wider markets, but they have also led to increased employment opportunities, resulting in wider positive economic impact for her community.
“Our business expanded, revenue doubled, and we were also able to increase employment opportunities for more women in the community. PSD supported us during a very critical period easing our financial and mental stress.”
–Francis Jasmin, Nature Wins
George Paul established Infinity Vacations to bring innovative ways to explore Sri Lanka. Like many businesses in the tourism sector, Infinity Vacations’ revenue was negatively affected by COVID-19 travel restrictions, which forced them to lay off a portion of their staff to stay in business.
PSD’s emergency relief grant helped Infinity Vacations — and its community — avoid additional negative impacts of COVID-19 by supporting staff salaries while tourism levels remained low.
“The grant that USAID has given us not only helps our travel business to survive but helps all levels of the economy in a village or a town or wherever. The impact of this grant will be seen in the years to come.”
– George Paul, Infinity Vacations
In 2015, Nishantha Jayathilaka converted five acres of land into an organic fruit plantation to supply raw materials to the export market and export processors and in 2017 he established his own processing facility in Dompe. By 2021, demand for his products was high, he was sourcing organic fruit from 100 farmers around Sri Lanka and the Worga Naturals factory, which began with 10 employees, had grown to 50 staff, 90% of whom were women. Seeing COVID-19’s economic impact, and potential opportunities, Worga Naturals sought adaptation grant funding to help not only withstand, but expand operations, in response to pandemic-related market changes.
With PSD support, Worga Naturals trained staff on pandemic-related health and safety standards, built farmer capacity related to climate-smart and organic farming methods, and acquired new machinery to increase their production. These activities allowed Worga Naturals to launch three new products, access new international markets, and give back to their community by hiring additional employees.
“This grant helped us increase our production, and by 2022, we secured revenue of $1 million.”
– Nishantha Jayathilaka, Worga Naturals
The Rainforest Ecolodge, located in Sinharaja and established in 2000 with USAID support, is more than just a LEED Platinum-certified hotel. It’s a collaborative effort from stakeholders from the tourism industry, academia, and the forest department to develop the future of ecotourism in Sri Lanka.
Rainforest Ecolodge saw the reduced number of tourists during COVID-19 as an opportunity to adapt its business to be more competitive once tourism resumed. Through the PSD-funded grants program, they provided trainings for naturalists and eco-guides of the Rainforest Ecolodge, Forest Department, and the Association of Tour Guides on nature interpretation, conservation, client handling, safety and first aid, and soft skills, developed new marketing materials, and upgraded their viewing decks and nature trails to help increase visitors’ experiences. These activities and upgrades will result in additional revenue, employment opportunities, and income for their community.
“Our dream is to build the first canopy walkway in Sri Lanka, which would be able to promote the surrounding ecosystem.”
– Bimal Mahagedera — Rainforest Ecolodge
Through its work with MSMEs, USAID is fostering inclusive and sustained economic growth in Sri Lanka. To learn more about USAID CATALYZE, visit our website.
About CATALYZE
USAID CATALYZE, implemented by Palladium, is an 8-year program designed to mobilize $2 billion in private capital for development impact, especially in underserved social sectors and frontier markets across the globe, complemented by a cross-cutting inclusion of gender-lens investing. CATALYZE supports blended finance solutions working with local and international businesses and investors to explore and find commercially-viable opportunities and approaches to creating jobs, developing sustainable social services, tightening and rationalizing supply chains, and advancing inclusive growth. We work across 28 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, with 190 partners, including financial institutions, business advisory service providers, anchor firms, and job trainers.
