BSF and SMEDA aim to Promote Consultants
'Pakistan Times' National News Desk

LAHORE: BSF and SMEDA organized a seminar at Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI). Consultants/ Service Providers from various sectors of the economy were present at the event.

The seminar on “Market Opportunities for Business Development Service Providers” was organized to present how BSF and SMEDA were working towards promoting the use of consultancy services in the SME sector.

Member Executive Committee LCCI, Mr. Abrar Ahmad was present at the seminar. Guest speakers included Chairman, SME Committee Rahmat ullah Javed, COO BSF, Mr. Ali Sarfraz and Mr. Sultan Tiwana, General Manager B&SDS, SMEDA.

Mr. Ali Sarfraz explained that BSF can pay up to 50% of the fees of the service providers for various SME consultancy projects. He said that uptil now, BSF committed support to over 300 SME projects from all over Pakistan.

Consultants have been engaged for IT services, product development, process improvement, marketing, quality management, HR development, certifications and trainings.

Mr. Sultan Tiwana said that SMEDA was actively working to promote the business development service providers through various programs including consultant database, panels of experts, SMEDA Accounting Package (SMAP) etc. for the benefit of SMEs.

Working under the Ministry of Industries, Production & Special initiative, SMEDA was established in October 1998 to take on the challenge of developing Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan.

SMEDA is not only an SME policy-advisory body for the government of Pakistan but also facilitates other stakeholders in addressing their SME development agendas.

SME Business Support Fund was established in 2005 by the Ministry of Finance with the assistance of ADB to provide financial assistance of up to Rs. 1.8 million to SMEs. Its objectives are to support SMEs and promote consultants.●