EBL partners with Prerona Foundation

Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL) and Prerona Foundation to collaborate on a women entrepreneur development programme to empower women with comprehensive knowledge on business management and financial literacy that will enable them to gain access to finance and make their business sustainable.

To this effect, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed at Prerona Foundation office in the capital recently, EBL said in a statement.

The partnership is designed towards a targeted beneficiary group: growth-stage entrepreneurs and other women entrepreneurs with a minimum of one year of business experience. Entrepreneurs willing to explore the opportunities to expand their ventures will find this programme helpful.

This programme will create an impact through building entrepreneurial abilities among the targeted beneficiaries and improving their creditworthiness. It will help with a structured approach to developing the required skills of an entrepreneur to run a successful business.

Moreover, it will support the complete process of transforming a startup into a sustainable business. Through this partnership, EBL and Prerona Foundation together will enable women to achieve their entrepreneurship goals, while helping them become empowered in the process.

Mubina Asaf, Director, Governing Body, Prerona Foundation, said, “At Prerona Foundation, we focus on the capacity development of women artisans through multiple projects run across the country. Ensuring women’s inclusion in mainstream economic activities would also mean providing them with better access to financial tools. This is why offering women holistic knowledge on financial literacy and business management is essential. We are happy to join hands with Eastern Bank Ltd. in this one-of-a-kind initiative that aims to offer the right knowledge to women entrepreneurs, to help them realise their dream of a financially empowered future.”

M Khorshed Anowar, DMD, Head of Retail & SME Banking, Eastern Bank Ltd, said, “EBL always believes in women empowerment and has been designing products and services to suit the needs of women entrepreneurs. EBL Women Banking is committed not only to unleashing the potential in women entrepreneurs but also regularly organise advising and consultancy services from skills development to give women workforce access to finance. However, addressing the lack of tailored capacity building programmes in the market, EBL in association with Prerona Foundation, endeavours to launch an entrepreneur development programme which will cater end-to-end training, guidance, and support to the growth-stage entrepreneurs so that they can manage their businesses effectively in any business environment.”