As part of its commitment to advancing women’s empowerment and strengthening its leadership pipeline, Eswaran Brothers Exports (EB), a leading tea manufacturer in Sri Lanka, has launched its flagship women’s leadership initiative, She Transforms—a customized six-month leadership development journey. Developed in collaboration with award-winning leadership expert Senela Jayasuriya and supported by Value for Women, the programme forms a key pillar of the company’s broader gender strategy focused on leadership capacity building, inclusion, and long-term institutional transformation.
Women represent 44% of Eswaran Brothers’ workforce; however, only 23% held senior roles at the time of an initial gender diagnostic conducted with Value for Women and supported by FMO, the Dutch Development Finance Bank. The assessment highlighted that, despite strong potential, many women faced unclear career pathways and limited structural support during critical life stages.
In response, Eswaran Brothers introduced a series of strategic mindset and policy interventions aimed at removing barriers and creating a more enabling environment for women to grow and lead. These initiatives included structured mentorship opportunities, enhanced support for employees returning from maternity leave, coaching for managers, and programmes designed to strengthen inclusion and career progression across the organization.
The impact of these interventions has been significant. Within six months, 20 women were promoted—representing a 2.4-fold increase compared to the previous year—while male promotions also doubled, demonstrating that inclusive systems benefit the wider workforce. Managers and participants reported notable improvements in confidence, ownership, strategic thinking, and decision-making among female professionals.
According to Nimali Senevirathne, Group Head of HR and Legal at Eswaran Brothers, “Women began leading beyond their titles, showing up with increased visibility, voice, and conviction.”
She Transforms was introduced to sustain and scale this momentum. Built on a structured 10-step journey, the programme combines training, mentoring, and coaching to help participants strengthen resilience, influence, self-leadership, and emotional agility. Through cognitive leadership tools, role plays, boundary-setting strategies, and facilitated group reflection, participants are guided through practical approaches to leadership and strategic decision-making in today’s fast-evolving business environment.
Binance Launches U.S. Stocks Trading and Previews bStocks Tokenized Securities
Binance has introduced U.S. equities trading, giving eligible users access to more than 7,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs. The launch reflects Binance’s belief that financial inclusion expands meaningfully when access to opportunities becomes simpler, more integrated, and more accessible. The company will also soon introduce tokenized U.S. stocks, marking another step in its vision of a multi-asset financial super app.
“We have set out to reach the next 3 billion users, and to do that, we need to make it simpler for users to access opportunities across asset classes, diversify their portfolios, and move more easily between traditional investing and on-chain finance,” said Yi He, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Binance. “That is what a multi-asset financial super app should help people do.”
Enabled through Binance’s ADGM broker-dealer, Nest Trading Limited, the new offering expands the platform’s multi-asset ecosystem by bringing U.S. equities trading and a pathway to tokenization into a unified user experience. By reducing friction in how users access and hold traditional assets, Binance continues to build on an approach already proven in products such as perpetual futures.
Eligible users will be able to trade U.S. equities with zero commission, purchase fractional shares starting from just $5, and gain direct ownership of equities held by a U.S.-regulated clearing broker, including eligibility for dividends and corporate actions. Select equities will also be available for 24/5 trading. Purchases will primarily be made using USDC, with support for BNB, USDT, USD1, and $U, while sale proceeds will be settled in USDC. Fully Paid Securities Lending (FPSL) will also be available, allowing eligible users to earn passive income by lending their stock holdings.
In the coming weeks, and subject to regulatory approvals, Binance will introduce bStocks, tokenized securities representing select U.S. stocks and ETFs. These will be issued by BTECH Holdings Ltd, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) registered in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Once launched, bStocks will be available for trading on the Binance Exchange.
Eswaran Brothers Empowers Women through a Transformative Leadership Journey
