Two more ERF funding products launched

Export Readiness Fund offers matching grants

FE Team | Published: October 01, 2020 22:16:01

Participants in the virtual inaugural ceremony of the ERF funding opportunities in the city on Wednesday

The Export Readiness Fund (ERF) in Bangladesh launched on Wednesday new funding products for businesses in the Leather and Leather goods, Footwear (both leather and non-leather), Plastics, and Light Engineering Sectors (electronics and electrical goods, automobiles and parts, bicycles, accumulators and batteries, foundry and dye and mould), says a statement.
The ERF is a programme under the Export Competitiveness for Jobs (EC4J) project under the Ministry of Commerce and funded by the World Bank Group.
The four sectors covered by the ERF have immense potential for export, and they are a prime focus of the government's export diversification plans.
The ERF was launched in January 2020 and will run until March 2023. The programme provides funding and guidance to businesses to meet environmental, social, and quality (ESQ) compliance standards so they can compete in global export markets. The fund helps businesses identify constraints, upgrade products and processes, and diversify products to have better access to export markets.
Two new ERF funding windows opened on Wednesday. Window 2 provides smaller grants that cover business and technical services to meet ESQ standards. The maximum grant size is US $40,000, with 40 per cent as recipients' minimum contribution. Window 3 provides grants that cover both service and fixed asset expenditures to meet ESQ standards. The maximum grant size is US $200,000, with 50 per cent as recipients' minimum contribution.
ERF windows 2 and 3 will support:
• the upgrade of production plants, equipment, and services for target industries
• improvement of design and quality of products so they are export ready
• marketing and distribution to promote ESQ compliance and environmental and social benefits of products
• internal management to ensure ESQ compliance
• companies to receive ESQ certification
The ERF Window 1 will fund ESQ assessments for 400 companies. It has already signed agreements with 165 companies and is in the process of signing in 183 more companies. These assessments will identify gaps in production processes and management capabilities that prevent applicants from meeting export standards. Experts also provide guidance to meet these standards. Window 1 started in January 2020 and will continue until January 2021.