Ensure regular fund allocations for SMEs: experts

Regular fund allocations for small and medium enterprises (SME) are required to provide capital for business development of the SME sector.

"SME Foundation is playing an important role in achieving the government's target of increasing employment by providing loans and training to SME entrepreneurs on easy terms," said Kamal Ahmed Majumder, state minister for industries, while addressing a buyer and seller conference at Parjatan Bhaban in Dhaka's Agargaon yesterday.

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However, he said more loans are needed on easy terms for entrepreneurs to offset the losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

For this, regular funds should be allocated in favour of the SME Foundation.

Md Mofizur Rahman, managing director of the SME Foundation, said his organisation has been organising such buyer and seller conferences regularly to introduce the products made by SME entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs to top tier buyers of the country.

Md Masudur Rahman, chairman of the SME Foundation, said the country's SME entrepreneurs are lagging behind due to lack of market connectivity of capital and products. At the same time, ensuring fair prices for their products is also a big challenge.

According to him, the SME Foundation is working to address these crises for SME entrepreneurs.

There are about one million SME industrial units and about six lakh cottage industries in the country, of which 6.21 per cent is being run by women entrepreneurs.

He said the number of women entrepreneurs in the country is increasing significantly every year as a result of creating conducive working environment for women and various incentives.

Masudur said market connections and marketing of products are one of the major challenges for women entrepreneurs.

While 36 per cent of women entrepreneurs mentioned the crisis of capital in doing business, 20 per cent of women entrepreneurs cited marketing of products as the main problem.

A total of 60 potential women entrepreneurs from different parts of the country took part in the conference.

The participating women entrepreneurs showcased their products such as  boutique goods, jute items, leather goods, handicrafts and jewellery to commercial buyers.

The event was attended by representatives of various organisations and online marketplaces.

Commercial buyers were able to select suppliers by verifying the product quality, design, use of dyes, wholesale price and production capacity of the women entrepreneurs participating in the programme.

The SME Foundation has provided training to participating women entrepreneurs on product manufacturing and supply management, product quality control, use of design tailored to demand and wholesale pricing strategies.

The foundation hopes that the buyer-seller gatherings will help women entrepreneurs market their products while also helping commercial buyers or retailers to find a source or supplier of their products.

In the last five buyer and seller conferences organized by SME Foundation, about 200 women entrepreneurs displayed their products and about 160 women entrepreneurs are regularly delivering products to various reputed business establishments of the country.