The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) has launched a country-wide move to attract women entrepreneurs towards Prime Minister Youth Business Loan (PMYBL) through a series of awareness seminars. The first seminar of the series was held here at the Smeda head office under the aegis of its Women Entrepreneurs Development Cell. Chairman Senate's Standing Committee on Industries and Production Senator Hiayatullah, Senator Taj Haider, Senator Khalida Parveen, Senator Kalsoom Parveen, Shazia Suleman, President Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Lahore Chapter) and Smeda Chief Executive Officer Sher Ayub attended the seminar.
Smeda's Provincial Chief Hassanien Javed in his detailed presentation revealed that PMYBL had a 50 percent quota for women aging between 21-45 years and five percent quota for the widows of martyrs and disabled persons. So far only 14 percent applicants out of the total received applications belonged to women.
He further said that initially the mark-up on PMYBL was eight percent which had been reduced to six percent. The balance part of the mark-up as per the market rate would be paid by the government of Pakistan to the banks, he said, adding that only one reference and one guarantor was required for the loan. "Since the loan is purely a business credit, therefore, applicants would have to produce a viable business plan or a pre-feasibility study for which over 100 business feasibilities are available on Smeda website for guidance of the applicants."
The senators unanimously urged the women to become active part of the national economy by entering into different fields of the SME sector. They acknowledged that PMYBL was the best option for financial support of the female young entrepreneurs. They appreciated Smeda for having direct interaction with women entrepreneurs about incentives offered under the scheme.
Responding to a query regarding further easing of the scheme for women to increase number of female applicants, the Smeda Chief Executive assured to take up the suggestion with the quarter concerned.
However, he vowed to continue direct communication with women entrepreneurs on government support facilities for entrepreneurship development with a special focus on PMYBL. It is notable that PMYBL scheme offers business loan facility to young entrepreneurs up to Rs 2 million for eight years with an equity participation of only 10 percent by the applicant.
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