Small and Medium Enterprises

Engineering Post Report

Globally, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)  are considered  as  an important  pillar for  poverty alleviation  as they create  jobs, increase  standard of living and play critical role in ensuring equitable  income  distribution.

In Pakistan,   SME sector  contributes an estimated  40 per cent to the Gross  Domestic product (GDP) and  it holds  tremendous  potential for creating  a positive impact  on Pakistan’s  economy. To enable SMEs in Pakistan to   play their due role  in national economic development,  Small and Medium  Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) has taken  various  initiatives towards  fostering  growth of  SMEs  through a broad service portfolio  spread  across various  SME sectors and clusters. The organization has an all-encompassing  mandate  of fostering  growth of the SME sector through  its portfolio of services including  business development  services,  infrastructure  development through  establishing  common  facility centres,  industry support  for productivity  enhancement  and energy  efficiency, human capital development  through its training  programmes and SME  related  projects  with national and international development partners.

According to SME Policy 2007,  any enterprise  with up to 250 employees  and up to Rs 250 million annual  sales comes under  the definition Small and Medium Enterprises.

SMEDA is committed to support SMEs  during ongoing onslaught of pandemic of COVID-19 and accordingly has launched  a comprehensive programme of online SME clinic and webinars, training sessions, helpdesks and virtual meetings with key public and private  stakeholders  in order to facilitate  businesses in  such a critical time.

Incumbent federal government duly acknowledges  the significance of SME sector  and is making efforts to provide a level plying field for businesses  by devising policies that are favourable  for SMEs.

Way back in August 2020, the Prime Minister  had constituted  the National Coordination  Committee on S<E development and promotion of  SMEs in the   country. In the second meeting  of the  NCC in October 2020, the Prime Minister had approved   the National SME Policy Action Plan 2020  to provide much  needed support to SMEs. The Plan 2020 as such focused  on key areas including SME definition , access to finance, business development services,  skills and  human resource, technology,  market access, infrastructure and entrepreneurship and provided extensive recommendations  in  each of the aforementioned  areas.