SMEDA Holds Awareness Session For Journalists' Bodies

No nation can achieve the goal of economic prosperity without bringing entrepreneurship revolution in the country

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Mar, 2021 ):No nation can achieve the goal of economic prosperity without bringing entrepreneurship revolution in the country.

Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) Chief Executive Officer Hashim Raza expressed these views while addressing a joint awareness session of Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) and Lahore Press Club (LPC) at a local hotel on Wednesday.

PUJ President Qamar Zaman Bhatti and LPC President Arshad Ansari also addressed the session. LPC Secretary Zahid Chaudhry and other office-bearers and members of both the governing bodies were present on this occasion.

Hashim Raza said that SMEs despite contributing about 40 per cent into GDP were provided with a share of only three per cent from the formal financial resources, which was too little for the huge sector of SME comprising over 90 per cent of trade and industry concerns in the country. However, he said,the SMEDA and State Bank with the support of government had designed a number of initiatives under the forthcoming SME policy to increase the debt share for SME sector to the maximum level. He added that the SMEDA was working on its mandate of entrepreneurship development as an ongoing movement that needs support from all leading circles of intelligentsia.

Especially, the media could play pivotal role in this movement, he said and invited the journalists' community to join hands with SMEDA to create entrepreneurship culture in the country by enhancing the awareness among masses on business mechanism and procedures.

He said the SMEDA had launched a country-wide National Business Development Programme to train the potential investors for setting up a small or medium business amicably. In this regard, SMEDA-One-Window (SOW) was the most effective tool which provided a one-stop solutions to all business requirements including registration, marketing and promotion, he added.

Later, President Lahore Press Club Arshad Ansari and President PUJ Qamar Zaman Bhatti thanked the CEO SMEDA for initiating rapport with the journalists' community. They assured of their fullest cooperation in propagating SMEDA services for promotion of entrepreneurship in the county. They suggested to apprise journalists bodies about business friendly initiatives of the SMEDA so that the same may be disseminated to the public.