businessnews24bd.com
The ‘Credit Wholesaling Programme’ of the SME Foundation is getting momentum with significant rise in its credit recipients, according to SME Foundation official.
“The collateral-free loan under the programme has become more affordable for borrowers as it is being provided at 9.0 percent rate of interest to help promote further the country’s small and medium enterprises,” Managing Director of the SME Foundation M Shofiqul Islam told journalists.
He said the lending programme has so far created direct employment opportunities for around 5,000 people along with the generating another 10,000 indirect jobs.
Islam suggested that more communities should be associated with the activities of the SMEs in a bid to ensure industrial development and creating more employment opportunities.
The SME Foundation Managing Director also informed, till October 31, 2017, the Foundation following its agreements with 11 bank and non-bank financial institutions, have allocated around Tk 101.25 crore against some 19 clusters or cliental groups.
He said the number of SME Foundation credit recipients till October of this year reached 1,263 of which some 813 are male entrepreneurs while the rest of 450 are female entrepreneurs.
He said collateral free loan of maximum Tk 10 lakh and minimum Tk 50,000 is being provided to the SME entrepreneurs under this programme with highest nine percent interest rate while this loan could be repaid in five years with easy installments.
Putting emphasis on the extension of the credit facilities of the Foundation, he said, “Allocations should be increased in this sector in favour of more industrial entrepreneurs. We’ve already applied to the Bangladesh Bank in this regard and we’re hopeful of getting another Taka 50 crore fund,”
The SME Foundation top boss said that his organization has been working relentlessly to ensure overall development of around one crore people, who are closely associated with the country’s one million SMEs, in line with the government’s 7th Five Year Plan (7FYP), Vision-2021, National Industrial Policy 2016 and five specific goals (1,4,5,8 and 9) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Officials at the SME Foundation said that collateral free loan is being provided to the various potential SMEs, or clusters or cliental groups at highest nine percent interest rate under the credit wholesaling programme. Under this programme, so far some 177 SME clusters have been identified which have been grown naturally across the country.
The Foundation is also imparting training to the cluster-wise entrepreneurs according to the demand of various clusters, provides low interest financing as well as conducting creation of new entrepreneurs programme. Any female entrepreneur associated with the production and services sector of the country could avail funding from the ‘MTB-Gunoboti’ loan project through the Mutual Trust Bank Limited.
Besides, collateral free-loan have been given among some 199 entrepreneurs associated with the boutique and weaving industries in Jessore and Chittagong Hill Tracts from the Trust Sukonna Loan Project operated by the Trust Bank Limited.
Apart from this, any female entrepreneur in the country (except Dhaka and Chittagong City Corporation), involved in the production and services sector, currently can avail loan facilities from the Bank Asia-Nilima loan project operated by the Bank Asia Ltd.
Currently SME Foundation is associated with 11 partner financial institutions. These are – Mutual Trust Bank Ltd, NCC Bank Ltd, Eastern Bank Ltd, Trust Bank Ltd, Bank Asia Ltd, Dhaka Bank Ltd, Midas Financing Ltd, IDLC Finance Ltd, NRB Bank Ltd, Southeast Bank Ltd and Brac Bank Ltd.
The SME Foundation basically does not provide such loan facilities directly, rather through various bank and non-bank financial institutions. Besides, the Foundation also regularly hold various SME loan fairs (financing fairs), banker-entrepreneur conferences, seminars, loan related matchmaking, alongside imparting training to the bankers.
In the ’21st International Small and Medium Industries Conference’ recently held at Indian Capital New Delhi, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu said the SMEs in Bangladesh has been flourishing despite various obstacles while around 80-85 percent of the country’s overall employment generation came from the SME sector.