A workshop was held in Cox's Bazar to connect small and medium women traders with banks and financial institutions at departmental level.
On Sunday at noon in the hall room of an elite hotel in Kalatali, the non-governmental development organization BRAC organized the workshop.
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director ABM Zahurul Huda was the chief guest on the occasion.
Among others, senior program manager Sheikh Rakibul Hasan, Chittagong Divisional Officer Moshiur Rahman, Ajit Nandi and other bank officials spoke.
The workshop informed that the role of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is essential for the overall economic development of a country, especially for a developing country like Bangladesh. Currently, there are about 7.8 million micro, small and medium (MSME) enterprises and they contribute about 25% to our GDP (ADB 2015). But micro, small and medium businesses have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
"More than 80% of micro, small and medium businesses in Bangladesh have been financially affected by the Corona pandemic. Access to finance and business training are of immense importance to recover from that damage and improve the lives and livelihoods of workers working in these businesses."
It was informed in the workshop, BRAC Skill Development Program Cox's Bazar SDC BRAC Social Cohesion Fund for Cox's Bazar District Tranche-2's Enterprise Development Project has been working since 2022 to improve the skills of 1500 businessmen in Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh and ensure financial access.
Citing various researches, it was informed in the workshop that difficulty in obtaining loans for small, small and medium business women entrepreneurs is one of the obstacles in their development. A linkage workshop with various financial institutions has been organized to identify the existing barriers to access capital to small, small and medium businesses, to inform about the existing services of various financial institutions and above all to inform about the existing financial facilities in Bangladesh for the development of small, small and medium businesses.
In the workshop, identification of the existing obstacles in the provision of capital to small, small and medium businesses, the banking policies of the SME sector by Bangladesh Bank, the introduction of the existing services of various financial institutions, active participation and application in the banking activities, above all, the departmental to inform about the existing financial facilities in Bangladesh for the development of small, small and medium businesses. Workshops are organized to establish financial linkages with financial institutions at various levels.
Hundreds of people from various professions including bankers, NGO representatives, businessmen, women entrepreneurs and journalists participated in the event.
