Lak Jaya Micro Finance Limited opened its head office at High Level Road, Pannipitiya recently.
Keerthi Wijetunga, Director, Department of Supervision of Micro Finance Institutions of the Central bank was the Chief Guest.
Dirk Brouwer, Chairman of the company, members of the Board of Directors, senior management, long serving employees and some long-time customers also attended the opening ceremony.
Lak Jaya Micro Finance Limited commenced operations in March 2002 on the basis of group guarantee with the objective of providing credit facilities to the economically active poor, the entrepreneurial poor and vulnerable non-poor who cannot access credit from formal sources of finance.
Catalyst Microfinance Investors (CMI), a leading international investor in microfinance business in the world, invested US$ 1.6 million in Lak Jaya shares through a locally incorporated company called CMI Lanka Holding (Private) Limited. The injection of capital and the adoption of ASA methodology marked a turning point in evolution of the company and the number of branches increased from 6 to 46 within little over one year.
Lak Jaya is a micro finance institution with a considerable exposure in the field of microfinance in Sri Lanka. At present, around 60,000 micro-entrepreneurs benefit from the loan programmes of the company and the amount of loans outstanding is around Rs. 1.2 billion. The average loan size of Rs. 23,000 indicates that the poorer segments of the population are reached.
Dirk Brouwer, addressing the gathering highlighted the achievements of the company and the role played by Catalyst Microfinance Investors, and ASA International which is dedicated to promote ASA methodology in supporting micro finance sector in the world.
While addressing the gathering Wijetunga of the Central Bank highlighted the significance of regulation and the types of regulation that would be effected under the Micro Finance Act introduced in 2016. In addition he emphasized the significance of client protection, responsible finance, deposit insurance schemes and the role of credit information bureau for minimizing loan risks.
Delivering the key note address, Dr. R.M.K. Ratnayake, former Secretary of the Ministries of Samurdhi, Land, and Trade, analysed the policy towards pro-poor development in Sri Lanka and concluded that the apparent inadequacy of policies of the state to address income inequality led the government to pursue the concept of 'pro poor' growth as an effective measure to reduce the inequality during the process of growth. The extent to which growth is pro poor depends on how much a chosen measure of poverty changes as the result of implementing of such policies.
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