BSS, Rajshahi :
Speakers at a function here Thursday asked the field level bankers to give more impetus to development of entrepreneurship through small and medium enterprises (SME) financing to accelerate the economy at the grassroots.
Narrating enormous significance of more development of entrepreneurships and increased financing to the SME sector, they also asked them to boost credit-flow to the sector.
They were addressing the closing and certificate-giving ceremony of a five-day training course on ‘Entrepreneurship Development and SME Financing’ organized by Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) at its training institute.
RAKUB Managing Director Mufazzal Hossain and Deputy Managing Director Dr Nazmul Bari addressed the session as chief and special guests with principal of the training institute in the chair.
The specialised bank has set the target of disbursing Taka 125 crore as SME loan through its 376 branches in all 16 districts of Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions during the current 2014-15 fiscal. Besides, the bank disbursed Taka 87 crore against the target of Taka 100 crore during the previous fiscal.
The discussants said the SME sector can play an effective role in economic progress, employment generation and poverty reduction. If the SMEs are properly financed, the nation would be benefited, they added.
In this regard, they asked the bankers to expedite the RAKUB’s SME credit program through intensifying motivational, awareness building and monitoring activities to make the program a total success.
Main thrust of the SME loan scheme is to create an intensive investment scope for the agro-based SMEs in the light of the government industrial policy and for supplementing the government’s efforts to attain food security and economic emancipation.
In addition to generating new more talented entrepreneurs, the scheme has provision for creating more women entrepreneurs through providing them with special facilities so that they could be brought to mainstream of the national economic development activities.
Various business fields especially software, agro-processing and its business, agriculture plantation, fisheries, poultry, tissue culture, leather goods, health service and diagnostic centers and education services have been selected for investment.
Some 50 branch-level principal officers and officers took part in the course.
