YOUNG entrepreneurs have demanded better fiscal policy support from the government including loan facilities without collateral. They laid emphasis on budgetary incentives ahead of the announcement of new budget for 2016-17 to boost their capacity to make and protect investments for doing new business. Media reports on Friday said high profile economists like Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud shared their views at a seminar on ‘Budget Thoughts of Young Entrepreneurs’ in the city organized jointly by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Junior Chambers International Bangladesh. Participants said the creativity of young entrepreneurs can give Bangladesh the needed competitive edge to succeed in local and global market and add to the prosperity of the nation. It is now up to our leaders and policy makers to create the nurturing environment that will help the tapping of potentials of our young entrepreneurs.
Bangladesh is a young country with half of its population under the age of 25. In order to reap the demographic dividend, we not only need to create jobs for the youth, but also develop the supportive infrastructure that will allow young people to venture into new entrepreneurial activities. Currently there are very few sources for young entrepreneurs to get funding for their private sector projects. The lending environment is highly risky which in turn stifles innovativeness by discouraging people from trying out new ideas in business.
We must say what our young entrepreneurs say need to be heeded. Our leaderships are unnecessarily political even in case of young entrepreneurial development and that is why we are missing more opportunities than acting on them as they come and go. In our view special fund must be arranged in the budget for the purpose. The point is that powerful people swindle banks and their high interest rates for provisioning against bad loans are not supportive to low cost investment.
It is time for policy makers to understand why the government should recapitalize banks against swindled money. Such budgetary support may be extended to young entrepreneurs who may set up new projects to boast business and economic growth. It is a simple question when thousands of crore taka are disappearing from banks and most budgetary allocations misused and misappropriated, why young investors suffer should from shortage of investment funds and policy support to set up new business. It is however true that they should not also end up in misusing money and new rules and policies may be developed with sensible checks and balance.
In our view the government should reduce hassle for registration of new business and loan entitlement for young entrepreneurs who are coming up with credible business proposals. If these young entrepreneurs come out from policy-dilemma and other circumstantial hurdles, they will be able to take the economy to a new level.
