The International Finance Corp. has kicked off a multi-donor technical assistance program for small and medium enterprises in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. “The overall aim of IFC-SEDF (South Asia Enterprise Development Facility) is to improve the business environment for SMEs, contributing to broad-based economic growth and to sustainable poverty reduction,” a statement from the World Bank private sector arm read. The initiative, according to SEDF general manager Anil Sinha, “will apply best practices, tools, and techniques for SME development in Sri Lanka and the Maldives by leveraging the existing knowledge and resources from IFC’s SME programs from around the world and, more specifically, from Bangladesh.” (Sources: World Bank for technical assistance to Maldives/ Indo-Asian News Service)
