BSF to launch Franchise Pakistan Project

The Business Support Fund (BSF) is all set to launch Franchise Pakistan Project in which young entrepreneurs will be provided a chance to establish their own enterprise, said Chief Executive Office BSF, Syed Saquib Mohyuddin talking to the members of the Lahore Economic Journalists Association (LEJA), here on Monday.
He said the BSF envisions about 10,000 franchises by the end of the current fiscal year. The BSF is giving final touches to the legal framework for the Franchise Pakistan project, which would be completed by the end of current month. Franchise Pakistan project would be formally launched in April. Food, beverages and cutlery industries had been selected for the first phase of the project, he added.
Highlighting the salient features of Franchise Pakistan, Mohyuddin said that BSF would leave no stone unturned for the sustainability of these new franchises. "BSF will not only provide matchmaking facility but also it will offer business development services to these franchises. BSF will help these young entrepreneurs by offering them free experts' help," he underlined.
He said that the BSF was negotiating with different banks to offer special banking products for these new franchises, as most of these young entrepreneurs did not have any bankable document or credit history. He also said that in addition to the Franchise Pakistan project, BSF had planned to launch BSF Smart Energy Programme, which would help small industries to cut their energy cost by adopting innovative energy management solutions.
Women Entrepreneur Development Programme (Southern Punjab) was another initiative, which would empower women entrepreneurs in rural areas by providing access to financial institutions and urban markets, he maintained. Talking about the BSF role in economic development, Mohyuddin said BSF was initially launched in 2002 under the SME Sector Development Programme, which was funded by the Asian Development Bank. The donor had finished the programme in November 2009, which was later adopted by the Ministry of Finance. He said it was the only donor-funded project in Pakistan, which had local ownership, as there was dire need of business support services organisations in the country.
He said that it was the only public sector organisation, which was working on self-reliance basis. "BSF is not taking any financial support from the government. It generates revenue for meeting operational cost and development projects on its own. As at all BSF members are of the view that how a business support organisation could help business if it exists on government support, he added.
About the SMEs, he pointed out that around 99 percent businesses fall in the category of SME, were generating 80 percent of total jobs and contribute 38 percent to the total GDP. He said there were 3.8 million SMEs operating in Pakistan of which 87 percent were sole proprietorship, 10 percent were partnerships and one to two percent were limited companies. BSF was targeting 87 percent of these SMEs that were in real trouble due to unavailability of support services, he added. He said Pakistani SMEs are not competitive globally due to many known reasons. Without proper support mechanism even investment of millions of dollars could not make any big difference.