Seylan Bank’s Seylan Tikiri Chief Manager Liability products and New age Media Dinesh Jebamani and Head of Marketing & Sales Gamika De Silva speak of the Seylan Tikiri account and its benefit to children.
Launched in 1991, Seylan Tikiri is the pioneer in minor savings accounts and is evolving rapidly with innovative services to cater to the diverse needs of its vast customer base. Since its inception, Seylan Tikiri has empowered thousands of children across the island, by inculcating the savings habits along with other teachings in self-development and social skills, to enable today’s children to be tomorrow’s leaders.
The Bank has aligned its resources to assist children in urban and under privileged areas, to offer the right knowledge and banking support to better position their future.
Excerpts of the interview
Commenting on the vision of Seylan Tikiri, Dinesh Jebamani, Chief Manager Liability products and New age Media at Seylan Bank said “Seylan Tikiri was one of the first major innovations by the Bank that revolutionised the minor savings account category and continues to set new trends in the banking sector. Seylan Tikiri, being one of the biggest products, aims to empower children with proper savings knowledge along with other ethics in academic skills and self-development to produce future entrepreneurs. Seylan Tikiri was also the first minor savings product to offer value added benefits and has fast become popular among kids and parents”
Commenting further, Dinesh added “The growth of Seylan Tikiri especially contributes to the values of customer satisfaction. We at Seylan continuously focused on understanding the rapidly changing needs of customers, thus adjust our value proposition to best position Tikiri products and services to offer customers the optimum benefits coupled with other values which attributes higher customer satisfaction and remain relaxed”
Elaborating on the evolution of Seylan Tikiri, Gamika De Silva, Head of Marketing & Sales at Seylan PLC, noted “Seylan Tikiri has evolved significantly in terms of products and services. Understanding the rapidly changing need of children every year, we have upgraded our gift scheme from traditional gift items to a trendier toy list which is popular among kids. Some of the gifts comprise of video game pads, scooters, remote-controlled helicopters, DVD setups, tablets and LED TVs. We at Seylan continuously focused on understanding the vicissitudes and values, which helps to improve and fine tune Tikiri products and services to better suit our customers’ needs. With Seylan Tikiri, we have not only been able to empower kids with the habit of saving, but also able educate parents on the importance of saving from a young age. With a strong track record, we continuously aim to add value to our Tikiri account holders, so that when they grow up, they have the right knowledge and the financial support to fulfill their big dreams”.
Remarking on World Children’s Day, Gamika remarked, “This is the 4th consecutive year that Seylan Tikiri has come forward to celebrate the Seylan Tikiri Children’s month. This year we have partnered with over 18 leading merchants to offer great savings up to 50% comprising on toys, books, health, and many other categories. Furthermore, we have planned to celebrate the Seylan Tikiri Month across 100 Seylan Bank branches island wide. As a special gift, Tikiri branded Digital Watch will be gifted for deposits of Rs. 1,500 and above to existing or new accounts during the month of October. With this year’s celebrations we aim to indulge our Tikiri account holders with immense benefits and values which will create memories for years to come. Further, we are offering discount coupons where Tikiri holders have the opportunity to produce at leading merchants to obtain great discounts”.
Expressing his views on why Seyan Tikiri celebrates World Children’s Day across the month of October, Gamika added “In order to ensure that every Children in the country shares the celebrations of the Seylan Tikiri Children’s Month, we have come up with a series of fulfilled activities which will be executed throughout October. Activities are customised to suit the customer profile, where each Seylan Bank branch has created and innovated their own unique events such as Tikiri pola, quiz competitions, carnivals, kite festivals, magic shows and games, which the children will enjoy. All activities focus on children and ensure these occasions help create special memories. As the bank with a heart, Seylan Bank’s Children’s Month celebrations will touch the lives of thousands of children, as they all come together through this fun-filled month to celebrate the greatest joy of everyone – our children”.
Commenting on the social values of Seylan Tikiri, Dinesh added “in addition to celebrating Seylan TIkiri Children’s Month, Seylan Bank considers it their corporate responsibility to infuse children with savings habit along with other social ethics to secure their future through ‘Seylan Tikiri’. By introducing the idea of savings and promoting it in a friendly and engaging manner, Seylan Tikiri has taken an active part to guide the children’s on the right platform”. “With the rapid modernisation taking place, Children should focus on being honest and determined to achieve their big ambitions and on the parent’s side, Children’s need to be taught to be honest, and caring which will help to produce good human beings and nurture every family” added Dinesh.