Facilitating women entrepreneurship development in Sri Lanka: Moving beyond microbusinesses

The proposed program builds upon the outcomes of AAF 15 program and its overall objective is to move women entrepreneurs from the informal sector to the formal sector in Sri Lanka. It will contribute to the government’s medium-term strategies for generating one million employment opportunities, and create a wide middle class in the country. The program objectives are well-aligned with Australian aid expectations of empowering women and girls, promoting gender equality and addressing barriers to women’s participation. The program will build skills in District and Divisional level public officers, who are engaged in promotion of micro-businesses to help women entrepreneurship to move from the informal business sector to the formal sector. The overall goal of the program is to build capacities of District and Divisional level public officers who have been engaged in promoting SMEs, women entrepreneurship in micro and small businesses, in particular, in their job role to: 1) provide leadership
and mentoring; 2) transfer financial management skills; 3) coordinate with relevant agencies to support women entrepreneurs; 4) facilitate access to markets; and 5) build network relationships and social resources. Exposure to the best practices of Australian enterprises and providing benchmark opportunities will enrich the Fellows’ capacities.