SME Foundation to hand Tk 100cr to smaller businesses

The SME Basis will disburse Tk 100 crore as a government incentive to small and medium entrepreneurs in today's fiscal year to greatly help them recover from the damages caused by the pandemic.

It will also give Tk 200 crore more within the next financial year, said Masudur Rahman, chairperson of the building blocks.

He shared the info at the foundation's 15th total annual general meeting at its office in Dhaka yesterday.

Regular coordination will be made with Bangladesh Bank to make sure smooth disbursement of the loans among the actual damaged entrepreneurs through banks and financial institutions, the building blocks said in a statement.

Some 10,199 entrepreneurs have benefited from SME Foundation's multifaceted activities linked to product marketing, skills advancement and market expansion of items produced in the home and abroad in 2019-20 economic year, said Nazim Hasan Sattar, general manager of the foundation.

"Of these, 4,509 are girls entrepreneurs and 5,690 male."

The participating SME entrepreneurs of the eighth National SME Products Good held in 2020 sold goods worth Tk 4.95 crore and received orders for Tk 6.38 crore, said Sattar.

The audited financial statement of the building blocks, auditor's report and its budget for 2021-22 financial year were approved at the meeting.