Many cottage, micro, and small entrepreneurs across the country lack adequate financial management skills, and as a result they fail to secure funding from formal lenders, which poses a major challenge towards their growth, experts said at a roundtable on Monday.
Besides, small entrepreneurs face different challenges, including poor knowledge of business operations, shortage of skilled workforce, and poor adoption of new technology by them.
The experts made the observation at the roundtable titled 'Access to finance and technical support for small, medium enterprises: current scenario, challenges, policy support and mitigations' held at a city hotel.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in Bangladesh and World Food Programme (WFP) in partnership with Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) jointly organised the event.
Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corpo-ration (BSCIC) Chairman Sanjay Kumar Bhowmick attended the conference as the chief guest while Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Industries Quamrun Naher Siddiqua was the special guest.
Portfolio Lead, Large Scale Food Fortification and Value Chain at GAIN Ashek Mahfuz moderated the discussion.
Speaking on the occasion, Sanjay Kumar Bhowmick said the country needs entrepreneurs at every household to become a developed nation by 2041.
"It is imperative that the country pave the way to the flourish of new entrepreneurs in different trades in line with its development goals," he said.
Highlighting the role of BSCIC industrial estates across the country as the birthplace of many domestic conglomerates, the BSCIC head said the government is also exploring news areas to promote the SMEs.
"A move is underway to establish three food processing industrial hubs in the northern part of the country," said Mr Bhowmick.
Quamrun Naher Siddiqua said food processing sector could become a vital scope for the SMEs since Bangladesh offers huge agricultural production of which a significant volume perish.
"Food processing along with innovative fortification through research can help address the country's malnutrition problem," she said.
A BAU Professor of Department of Food Technology and Rural Industries Dr. Abdullah Iqbal made a presentation on a project implemented by the BAU with the support of GAIN Bangladesh.
Giving an outline of the project activities which focused on nutrition, he recommended providing the entrepreneurs with the training on hygiene, food quality and safety, establish more linkage with academicians and research institutes.
Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman, a Director of Bangladesh Bank's SME and Special Programs Department (SMESPD) said many SMEs cannot avail loans from banks despite there is availability of funds under a refinance scheme of the central Bank.
"A good number of SMEs lack adequate knowledge on how to maintain their necessary documents," said Mr Rahman.
Still affiliated Banks and non-bank financial institutions do not get right entrepreneurs to finance though there is availability of funds, he said.
Country Director of GAIN in Bangladesh Rudaba Khondker, A BAU Professor Dr. Md. Zainul Abedin, secretary general of the Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association Imran Hasan spoke on the occasion among others.
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