LAHORE - The new five-year business plan, being developed by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) for sustainable development of the country, will create 0.27 million new enterprises within next five years.
This was disclosed by Smeda CEO Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera at a press briefing on Friday. He informed that the country had 1.73 million enterprises at present and the implementation on Smeda proposed plan would raise the number up to 2 million by the year 2018 with an addition of 0.27 million new SMEs, which will create 10 million new jobs by enhancing number of 14.85 million jobs at present to 25 million jobs by the year 2018. SMEDA business plan also has a capacity to magnify the export potential of the local SMEs, he said and hoped that the implementation on SMEDA plan would raise the exports from the current level of $18.21 billion to $54.20 billion by 2018.
Giving further details of the plan, CEO SMEDA told that the SMEDA proposed plan was based upon the three important pillars.
The first, he said, was the policy advocacy, for which a strategic SME development framework is being developed. The framework shall be based on inputs from all stakeholders including policy making institutions, business support organizations, private sector representative bodies, not-for-profit organizations and international development partners and will serve as a coherent strategy for SME development in Pakistan, he said, adding that the Strategic SME Development Framework will be supplemented with the publication of an SME White Paper annually, announcing incentives and measures for the promotion of SMEs in Pakistan.
Sukhera further said that Pakistan’s demographic profile renders it a uniqueness that can either be an opportunity or a challenge. Developing and promoting an entrepreneurial culture is a key pillar of SMEDA’s proposed business plan. The focus, therefore, is on our youth, women and regional development. access to finance, identified as a binding constraint for start-ups and growth of businesses is being addressed as a distinct theme and programmes have been developed to address both demand and supply side issues.
CEO SMEDA disclosed that an SME Club is also being developed for establishing inter-firm linkages and providing preferred value added services including real time business opportunities (trade leads), access to international markets, business networking opportunities along with preferred BDS services.
He informed that the educated and skilled youth, especially women, would be the main beneficiaries of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem to be developed under SMEDA business plan for creation of new enterprises.
SMEDA has prioritized 13 sectors for development interventions, Sukhera said, adding that value chain analysis had been carried out for each sector, identifying game changers that can transform the entire dynamic of the sector and accrue benefits across the entire sector.
The priority sectors of the SMEDA proposed development plan include logistic, gems & jewellery, horticulture, information technology and allied services, construction, dairy & livestock, engineering, energy, leather, mineral, tourism and textile.
Responding a question regarding implementation of the plan, CEO SMEDA said the proposed new strategy for implementation of SMEDA Business Plan is to develop, nurture and build partnerships with the federal and provincial governments, international development partners, chambers & trade associations and the private sector. Partnerships are also being forged with governments of FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir, he added.
CEO SMEDA was accompanied by a team of SMEDA experts in the briefing including Sultan Tiwana, General Manager Business & Sector Development and Alamgir Chaudhry, General Manager Outreach and operation of the organization.