Senior bankers at a meeting in Rajshahi on Thursday stressed the need for boosting investment in the small and medium enterprise sector for promoting entrepreneurship.
They termed the sector Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) as labour-intensive and viewed that successful promotion of the sector could be the effective means of alleviating poverty and generating employment opportunities to accelerate economic growth.
The bankers said SME is very important for reducing the existing gap between the rural and urban areas.
The observation came at the 43rd board meeting of SME Financing Company Ltd, a subsidiary company of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, held at its board room.
With Roisul Alam Mondal, Chairman of RAKUB and also chairman of the company governing body, in the chair, board members Professor Rustam Ali Ahmed, Golam Mostofa, RAKUB managing director Zahidul Haque, Deputy Managing Director Kazi Abdur Rahmanr Rahman, general manager Maksuda Nasrin and member-secretary and company chief executive officer Abdullah Salahuddin Ghazi took part in the discussion.
SME loans are being disbursed among entrepreneurs in 40 upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Natore, Naogaon, Pabna, Sirajgonj, Bogra, Joypurhat and Kurigram districts with the main thrust of creating an intensive investment scope for the agro-based SMEs in the light of the government industrial policy.
Various business fields especially software, agro-processing and its business, agriculture, plantation, fisheries, poultry, tissue culture, leather goods, health service and diagnostic centres and education services have been selected for investment as small and medium enterprise loans.
The speakers asked the company to expedite the SME credit program through intensifying motivational, awareness building and monitoring activities to make the program a success.