LAHORE: The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) held an awareness session with members of the Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) on Thursday on the business support initiatives to be undertaken by SMEDA.
Muhammad Javed Afzal, regional chief, central, SMEDA, gave a briefing on the organisation’s business development services and grant programmes designed to uplift Pakistan’s SME sector. The event was attended by businessmen, manufacturers, exporters and industrial representatives from the region.
Javed Afzal emphasised the critical role of SMEs in Pakistan’s economy, noting their contribution of nearly 40 per cent to GDP and 30 per cent to exports. He highlighted major challenges faced by SMEs, including limited access to finance, lack of modern technology, insufficient market information and an increasing cost of doing business.
He briefed the participants on SMEDA’s business development initiatives, including sector and cluster development, pre-feasibility studies, legal advisory, HR development and marketing support. He also discussed grant programmes such as SME Certification, the International Accreditation & Quality Improvement Grant Programme, offering 70 per cent matching grants for international certifications, the export assistance programme aimed at supporting new and small exporters with potential for export readiness and growth, and the Industrial Stitching Units (ISU) Programme’s second phase envisaging the establishment of 350 more stitching units.
He reaffirmed SMEDA’s commitment to supporting SMEs through policy advocacy, financial facilitation and capacity-building programmes, encouraging businesses in Gujranwala to fully leverage these opportunities.The GCCI management and participants appreciated SMEDA for sharing valuable information about the opportunities and initiatives.
