ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE ON SME GROWTH BY MINISTRY OF PLANNING,DEVELOPMENT & REFORMS

The Ministry of Planning Development and Reform (PD&R) has scheduled a ” Round-Table Conference on SME Growth.”on 29th April, 2014 at Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform to be chaired by Prof. Ahsan Iqbal federal minister PD&R with participation of stakeholders.

President Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) Zulfikar Thaver also member of the National Committee on SMEs (NCSMEs) said we are looking forward to participate in the conference and thanked Kaleem Ahmad the Young Development Fellow (YDF) at the PD&R for inviting and sharing with UNISAME the executive summary of the event.

Thaver appreciated the sincere and dedicated efforts of the ministry of PD&R to provide a policy for SME growth and seeking inputs from experts.
He said we will pinpoint the requirements of the sector and stress the needs for conducive environment, planning for motivation, encouragement and facilities for SMEs.

He emphasized the urgent need for finance at affordable mark up on pay as you earn schemes for purchase of land, shops, offices, workshops and factories. Purchase of raw material under bridge financing and post shipment finance for fast turnover. There is urgent need for collateral management system including warehouse receipt financing for rapid development of SMEs.

He pointed out that banking, leasing, insurance and logistics are the 4 pillars of SME growth and the government must aim at facilitating efficiently the sector on modern lines and do away with orthodox systems. If proper tools are applied in facilitating the sector by means of financing, reducing risks and risk management combined with indemnifying the banks for financing the sector and then facilitating logistics with speed and risk covered movements of goods both inland and overseas will promote the entrepreneurs to grow rapidly.

The SMEs need marketing support, information and incentives for import of modern technology and the ministry of PD&R needs to recommend this aspect in the SME growth policy to be formulated by them.

Thaver said Ahsan Iqbal is an excellent planner with deep thought and vision and the sector is glad that the minister is taking personal interest in the sector and revisiting the SME policy with the inputs from SME experts and hope it will go a long way in promoting the sector with a strong and implementable strategy.

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