Analysis of Economic Survey of Pakistan released during FY2019-20 recorded that the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), the apex SME development organization of the government, has an all-encompassing mandate of fostering growth of the SME sector in Pakistan. SMEDA’s broad portfolio of services includes; business development services, infrastructure development by organizing common facility centers, industry support for productivity enhancement and energy efficiency, human capital development by its training programs, and SME related projects with national and international development partners. It is also analyzed that SMEDA was awarded a contract for a project titled feasibility/research study on cluster development based mineral transformation plan/ vision 2025 through the planning commission. The project entails an extensive study of 20 mineral clusters of Pakistan. By the project, the Government of Pakistan intends to develop new mineral clusters besides enhancing the efficiency of existing ones throughout the value chain i.e. supply-chain development, market intelligence, attraction of FDI (foreign direct investment) and enhanced processing. During the period, 05 Value Chain studies, 14 Cluster studies, and project proposals for Gypsum value addition & Advanced Granite Processing Unit, Mansehra were developed.
| SMEDA over the counter (OTC) services | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sr. No. | Initiatives | Jul-Mar FY2020 |
| 1. | SME Facilitation | 5,564 |
| 2. | Pre-feasibility Studies Development (New & Updated) | 35 |
| 3. | Investment Facilitation (RS Million) | 301.92 |
| 4. | Business Plans | 5 |
| 5. | Training Programs | 298 |
| 9. | Theme Specific Helpdesks | 85 |
| 6. | OTC Products & Guide | 18 |
| 8. | Cluster / District Profiles (New and Updated), Diagnostic /Value Chain Studies | 11 |
| 10. | SMEDA Web Portal (Download Statistics) | 118,649 |
| 11 | SME Observer | 1 |
| 12 | SMEDA Newsletter | 3 |
National SME policy
The Economic Survey also analyzed that the present Government of Pakistan assigns high priority to SME development and creation of a conducive business environment for SMEs in the whole country. In order to create a facilitative economic environment where SMEs in local and global market can exploit emerging opportunities, draft National SME Policy has been developed through SMEDA. Draft National SME Policy particularly focuses on job creation, export enhancement and increased contribution of SMEs to Pakistan’s Economy. The Policy shall address core SME development challenges, counting; Access to Finance, Business Development Services, simplification & rationalization of taxation regime and reduction in cost of doing business in the country. Other areas include IT, E-commerce, Women Entrepreneurship, Dairy and Livestock sector, to enhance growth through a sectoral approach. A cohesive strategic framework for business facilitation across the public sector institutional infrastructure, both federal & provincial, has also been developed to support holistic implementation of the Policy, under the principle of ease of doing business.
NBDP for SMEs
National Business Development Program (NBDP) for SMEs (NBDP) has been organized, for offering SME start-up support & business improvement by practical, on-ground services to SMEs. The project shall be instrumental in organizing new enterprises and building the capacity of existing enterprises by provision of Business Development Services (BDS), like; marketing, technology, incubation, research & development and organizational development services. This program envisages to facilitate 314,901 SMEs, over a period of 5-year.
Statistics showed that the total cost of project is Rs 1954.978 million out of which an allocation of Rs 250 million has been made for FY2020. During February 2020, SMEDA introduced its OD (Organizational Development) Grants Program. OD Grant up to Rs 500,000 will be provided to support 150 SMEs. SMEDA’s largest capacity building initiative comprising of 3,800 training programs during 5 years in the whole country counting Federal Capital, AJK & GB under NBDP has also been introduced. A total of 15,000 SMEs will be targeted by this initiative in FY2020. In the recording year, 228 training programs have been conducted with 90,70 Participants. Furthermore, 76 theme specific programs/help desks with 1,240 participants have also been held and 06 Over the Counter (OTC) Documents have been developed.
SME development projects under PSDP
SMEDA, during Jul-Mar FY2020 has initiated the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) financed projects such as: product development center for composites based sports goods, Sialkot, fruit dehydration unit, Swat, SME Business Facilitation Center (SMEBFC), Multan and business skill development centers for women at Dera Ismail Khan
Special projects with international development partners
It is also recorded in the survey that the special projects with international development partners are included SMEDA Industrial Support Program, Economic Cooperation & Development Forum (ECDF) under FATA Economic and Small Business Interventions to Support Development of Clusters through CFCs-UNDP.
In last I would like to mention here, the SMEs sector is back bone of Pakistan economy. The SMEs sector in Pakistan plays a vital role in economy and considered as a survival in worse economical condition. It is fair to say that Pakistan economy is an economy of SME. Despite of all these significance and vital contribution in economy of Pakistan, still SMEs sector in the country have many constrain and have not received adequate attention for the sack of enhancing productivity of SME sector. In Pakistan entrepreneurs face many obstacles which restrict them for their long term sustainability and development. Pakistan is a country where business industry is totally under uncertainty. The inflation rate is much higher than other Asian countries. Terrorism and suicide booming extremely discourage foreign direct Investment (FDI). This derailed the whole economy and decreases the living standard of people. For developing prospers economy in Pakistan, business sector mainly SME sectors is necessary to flourish.