As part of its International Women’s Month celebrations worldwide, Visa, the world leader in digital payments, reaffirmed its support for women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka by announcing a strong commitment to financial inclusion and the digitisation of women-led businesses. Additionally, Visa hosted women from various backgrounds in a specially organised event in Colombo.
Visa in Sri Lanka and Maldives Country Manager Avanthi Colombage said: “At Visa, we believe in being the best way to pay and be paid by uplifting everyone, everywhere. This year, we celebrated International Women’s Month to support the very capable businesswomen in our country, with an event titled ‘Overcoming Barriers to Growth’ along with Square Hub, an incubator and business accelerator.”
According to Avanthi, Visa has established a solid basis for empowering women in Sri Lanka and encouraging female entrepreneurship. The company is aware of the difficulties faced by women-owned enterprises in obtaining funding, access, networks, and advice, and it is committed to actively uplifting women in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka and around the world, Visa thinks that women’s involvement is essential to an economy’s expansion.
35 upcoming women entrepreneurs across various sectors, including fashion, e-commerce, fintech, technology, manufacturing, and agriculture, were part of the Visa event.
Avanthi said, “two years ago, when we celebrated 35 years of Visa in Sri Lanka, we announced a grant for The Asia Foundation to assist women-led small and medium businesses (SMBs) throughout the country. This initiative offered vital seed funding, skills training, and financial inclusion opportunities for women entrepreneurs, helping remove some major barriers to their success,” she recalled.
35 female entrepreneurs received capital grants under the awards program to launch innovative, successful businesses and get past the obstacles that start-ups, particularly those run by women, often face. These women entrepreneurs could access financial literacy training modules in English, Sinhala, and Tamil as part of the initiative. Additionally, by assisting 30 female entrepreneurs in showcasing their companies at the 2024 International Industry Expo, Visa and The Asia Foundation helped them establish contacts with both domestic and foreign stakeholders.
Customised credit solutions: In collaboration with top financial institutions, Visa has launched credit cards with features including flexible repayment plans, business expansion loans, and waived annual fees that are especially suited for women-owned enterprises.
Support for e-commerce and digital payments: Visa assisted SMBs, especially women-led businesses, in making the switch to an online sales model by partnering with a top Sri Lankan payment gateway partner to offer multi-currency support and reasonably priced, subscription-based digital payments.
Cost-effective card payment options for SMEs: Visa’s collaborations also made it possible for thousands of female business owners, from salon owners to home bakers, to take digital payments using cellphones, an asset-light approach that does away with the requirement for point-of-sale machines.
More than 50,000 small businesses in Sri Lanka have benefited from these initiatives by adopting digital payments, which has increased their revenue and long-term viability.
According to Visa, the company is still dedicated to removing obstacles and giving female entrepreneurs the resources and chances they require to prosper. Through its promotion of financial inclusion and digital transformation, Visa is a crucial facilitator of women-led enterprises in Sri Lanka.
