SME financing fair ties up banks with start-ups
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Fazlur Rahman
The first-ever SME Financing Fair was declared a "grand success" as 13 small and medium enterprises have signed credit deals with banks and another 300 businesses held match-making meetings, organisers said.
More than two dozen banks and financial institutions have also listened to the country's cash-starved small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on financing issues during the two-day fair, which concluded Wednesday.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), which works as an advocacy group for the small and medium enterprises, and state-run SME Foundation jointly organised the fair, bringing together financial institutions, policymakers and thousands of entrepreneurs.
"The fair has been a grand success as 26 banks including large public sector banks displayed 124 financial products exclusively for the SMEs," said DCCI secretary general Nurul Islam. "The purpose of the fair was to create a congenial environment for the SMEs to get formal credit facilities from banks and other financial institutions as majority of the SMEs neither gets micro-credit nor corporate lending."
Organisers said the impact of the fair would be far-reaching as it would boost confidence for the banks to finance the country's nearly 100,000 SMEs and 500,000 cottage industries.
The DCCI official said over 300 business match-making meetings between the banks and the potential SME borrowers were held in an effort to help the financial institutions understand problems of the clients.
"During the fair 13 SME entrepreneurs have struck loan agreements to get funds for expansion of their enterprises," Islam said at the concluding ceremony Wednesday.
He said some other banks which joined the fair have shown interests to sign deal with SMEs on the sidelines of the fair.
A good number of entrepreneurs and representatives of SMEs from all over the country including the Khagrachhari and Bandarban hill districts attended the event.
The first-ever SME Financing Fair was declared a "grand success" as 13 small and medium enterprises have signed credit deals with banks and another 300 businesses held match-making meetings, organisers said.
More than two dozen banks and financial institutions have also listened to the country's cash-starved small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on financing issues during the two-day fair, which concluded Wednesday.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), which works as an advocacy group for the small and medium enterprises, and state-run SME Foundation jointly organised the fair, bringing together financial institutions, policymakers and thousands of entrepreneurs.
"The fair has been a grand success as 26 banks including large public sector banks displayed 124 financial products exclusively for the SMEs," said DCCI secretary general Nurul Islam. "The purpose of the fair was to create a congenial environment for the SMEs to get formal credit facilities from banks and other financial institutions as majority of the SMEs neither gets micro-credit nor corporate lending."
Organisers said the impact of the fair would be far-reaching as it would boost confidence for the banks to finance the country's nearly 100,000 SMEs and 500,000 cottage industries.
The DCCI official said over 300 business match-making meetings between the banks and the potential SME borrowers were held in an effort to help the financial institutions understand problems of the clients.
"During the fair 13 SME entrepreneurs have struck loan agreements to get funds for expansion of their enterprises," Islam said at the concluding ceremony Wednesday.
He said some other banks which joined the fair have shown interests to sign deal with SMEs on the sidelines of the fair.
A good number of entrepreneurs and representatives of SMEs from all over the country including the Khagrachhari and Bandarban hill districts attended the event.