Dhaka June 26 (BDNEWS) - As country's most of the small and medium scale entrepreneurs are facing lack of information regarding financing facilities and market access, a web portal was launched Sunday to boost SMEs.
The portal-- www.sme-bd.org -- first of its kind in the country at a joint initiative by SME Development Forum (SDF) and apex business body in the country Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), first ever stepped into an ICT based SME information cell.
The website launching ceremony, held at FBCCI's conference room, was participated by SME entrepreneurs including women, FBCCI directors, and leading business men in the country.
The web portal contains information about different SMEs including how to start SMEs, information about rural SME centres, access to finance.
Vice president of FBCCI Abul Kashem Haider formally launched the programme.
Managing Director of BASIC Bank Ltd Eqbal Hossain, Chairman of SME standing committee of FBCCI Abul Kashem Ahmed, Chairman of SDF Imam Sharif and SDF co-ordinator Dr. Zakaria Linchon were present on the occasion.
The business leaders said high bank loan interest rates has been hindering the growth of SMEs in the country.
In Japan, China, India, Pakistan and Srilanka, bank interest rate for SMEs is single digit but Bangladesh is the only country where loan interest rate for SMEs is double digit, they said.
According to them loan interest rate in Sri Lanka is only 2 per cent, in Pakistan and India is 5 per cent but in Bangladesh the interest rate is 12 per cent to 14 percent.
They said the growth of SME is the centre point of national economic growth as it contributes 20 per cent to the country's national GDP. No growth of SME means growth in industrial sector is unthinkable.
So the SME's should have the back-up support of information technology. Considering such necessity, the FBCCI initiated IT based support programme for the sector, the officials said.
For this reason, SDF already launched eight-franchise organisation thorugh out the country and has a plan to cover all the districts by this year, SDF official said.
According to a survey, conducted by Midas and DFID in 2003, Bangladesh has six million SMEs in the country.
BDNEWS/1530 hrs
