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RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 9177
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 6067
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000777 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS; MCC FOR D.NASSIRY AND E.BURKE 
 
USDOC FOR EROL YESIN 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EFIN CE
SUBJECT: Sri Lankan Business Community's Post-Tsunami "Back 
to Business" Program Helps Restart Commercial Activities 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  The "Back to Business" project of the 
Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka 
(FCCISL) has helped restart a significant number of tsunami 
affected businesses and livelihoods.  "Back to Business" was 
a comprehensive, private sector-led program.  The Government 
of Netherlands was the main sponsor of the program.  A 
number of other organizations including USAID are partnering 
in FCCISL's efforts.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  The FCCISL's post-tsunami Back to Business Project, 
which has so far assisted over 5,000 businesses/livelihoods, 
has several components: 
 
-- A grant assistance program:  The program provides 
commodities and equipment on a grant basis to restart 
livelihoods and small enterprises. It also provides a 
financial guarantee, by way of a deposit in a financial 
institution, which could be used as collateral to obtain 
loans.  Total assistance under the two programs is limited 
to Rs 20,000 (USD 200) for livelihoods, Rs 60,000 (USD 600) 
for micro-enterprises and Rs 150,000 (USD 1500) for medium 
sized enterprises.  4,130 businesses or livelihoods have 
been assisted. 
 
-- A loan facilitation program that helps affected 
businesses obtain loans from existing programs implemented 
by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and operated through 
commercial banks (these include the Central Bank-sponsored 
"Susahana" program, which was an immediate post-tsunami 
infusion of liquidity in the banking sector designed to spur 
loans for affected small businesses).  FCCISL has helped 952 
small and micro enterprises obtain loans totaling over Rs 
500 million (USD 5 million) from these schemes.  (Note:  In 
total, Susahana has provided about 10,000 loans through 
commercial banks disbursing Rs 3.3 billion (USD 330 
million).  The Central Bank has also facilitated two other 
loan schemes with funds from the Government of Japan and the 
UN.  According to Mr. P. Karunaratne, Head of the Regional 
Development Department of the Central Bank, all three loan 
programs have now ended.  A recent Euro 70 million (USD 56 
million) loan from the European Union will assist the 
tourism sector in 2006/7. 
 
-- Business planning/management training, marketing 
assistance and trauma counseling. 
 
-- A special program to help women, by assisting their 
livelihoods and female-owned enterprises. 
 
¶3.  The FCCISL, an umbrella organization comprising over 40 
private sector chambers and commodity or trade organizations 
spread throughout the country, has used its links with 
chambers in the tsunami affected areas to implement the 
project.  It works with 10 district chambers in the affected 
coastal areas of the southern, northern and eastern 
provinces.  The Netherlands Embassy in Colombo is the main 
sponsor of the Back to Business project.  Other co-sponsors 
include USAID and the German Development Corporation. 
USAID's livelihood restoration project, REVIVE, has funded 
training programs and commodity grants under the Back to 
Business project. 
 
¶4.  According Sam Stembo of the FCCISL, Back to Business 
will continue through mid-2008 and aims to help a total of 
10,000 businesses and livelihoods.  FCCISL aims to target 35 
percent of the assistance to women-led businesses.  Many of 
the other business assistance programs have now ended or are 
now coming to an end.  REVIVE, a USD 10.5 million USAID 
project, will end in September 2006.  It has assisted over 
31,000 households disrupted by the tsunami.  REVIVE 
implements its activities through non-governmental 
organizations, micro-finance institutions, and private 
sector associations (including FCCISL).  REVIVE provides 
funds for commodity grants and training, microfinance 
lending, and cash-for-work.  Some of the grants will be 
available for on-lending through four microfinance 
institutions during the next three years. 
 
¶5.  According to Azmi Thassim, CEO of the Hambantota Chamber 
of Commerce (in Sri Lanka's deep south), Back to Business 
was developed in response to requests made by various 
 
COLOMBO 00000777  002 OF 002 
 
 
regional chambers.  The small scale business operators 
affected by the tsunami were not in a position to access 
bank financing on their own or restart their businesses.  It 
is a practical program which helps through grants, bank 
financing, training and marketing assistance.  The program 
has assisted small scale operators such as traders, small 
industrialists (from lace makers to coir (coconut fiber used 
in industrial applications) suppliers) and small eating 
house and hotel operators.  It has not assisted many 
fishermen due to the plethora of other programs aimed at 
assisting the fishing industry.  According to Thassim, those 
businesses that have participated in the program have by-and- 
large had a successful reintegration into business life. 
ENTWISTLE