'Plan to involve women in economic activities chalked out'

Main streaming of female entrepreneurs is imperative to give a full throttled push to the national economy with a focused approach on SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) sector, said Mrs Shama Ahmed acting president of the Faisalabad Woman Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FWCCI).

She was addressing an Awareness-cum-Capacity Building program for bankers regarding SME policy of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

She said those females are almost half of our total population. "This important segment is either isolated or crippled which is main cause of our sluggish economic growth", she said and added that Government has chalked out new financial measures to involve female population in productive economic activities.

She said that, in a male dominated society women are facing multiple problems of social and economic nature. She said that, our prevalent societal behaviour is very discouraging for the young and highly educated girls. "Most of them are forced to leave their practical life or restrict themselves to their houses due to the non serious attitude of the male members," she remarked.

Continuing, she said that Information Technology (IT) has entirely changed this scenario and now women could contribute their role by sitting in their houses and undertaking different related projects.

She appreciated the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for doling out cheap loans to the young girls to start their own business with only 05% interest rate without any collateral.

She also thanked the local administration of the SBP and told that Faisalabad is swarming with SME's and commercial banks must process all loan applications in addition to sensitizing new startups in order to consume the entire credit line dedicated for the female entrepreneurs by SBP.

She said that the banks may be directed to achieve this set target so that the pace of economic development could be expedited to enhance the export volume. She assured that FWCCI would also encourage its members to avail from this opportunity and expand their business. "FWCCI is also contemplating to sensitive young passed out students of local universities to setup their own innovative SME units and thus become job provider instead of running after the jobs.

M Akbar Deputy Chief Manager SBP Faisalabad briefed about the measures taken by SBP to promote SME sector in this region. He said that a comprehensive campaign has been launched in Faisalabad, Jhang, Chiniot, Khushab, Toba Tex Singh and Sargodha.

He said that SME financing portfolio is only 8.5% for the private sectors while SBP intends to take it to 17% by 2023.He urged upon the bankers to disperse the maximum loan under his head as the outstanding portfolio of SME is 464 billion while the financing under SBP scheme remain at only 10 billion.

M Maqsood Assistant Chief Manager and Qaiser Mehmood senior officer of the SBP also gave a detailed presentation on SME policy.