Small & Medium Enterprise Development Authority (Smeda) is going to establish two business centres - Leather cluster in Charsadda and furniture cluster in Peshawar - by the end of the current financial year.
Talking to Business Recorder, Provincial Chief Smeda NWFP chapter, Javed Khattak said that the establishment of business centres would provide easy access to information technology and related business development services to SMEs based in the clusters.
The centres would provide IT related facilities for enhancement of the productivity of SMEs through bringing improvement in business management and system automation of the stakeholders of the clusters concerned.
The SMEs, he said, constitute nearly 90% of all the enterprise in Pakistan, employing 80% of the non-agricultural labour force, whose share in the annual GDP is approximately 40%, showing the significance of the sectors in our national economy.
The small and medium enterprise, he added is constrained by difficulties in access to information and business development services and the lack of access to essential business services including Business Management, Accounts & Booking Keeping, IT facilities, marketing, bank credit facilities etc hampers the growth of SMEs.
In present modern era, businesses rely heavily on e-market, which as online access to national and international markets and other allied e-commerce facilities. Moreover, he said that the use of IT has assumed a pivotal role in overall business management including accounts management, record keeping, inventory control and marketing etc.
Talking on the rationale of establishing Business Centre at Leather Cluster, Charsadda, he said that leather and leather products occupy important position in the economy of Pakistan. The export of leather and leather products are more than one billion US dollars and the sector is also of the major employers in the country. Charsadda in NWFP is known for its footwear products since decades and thousands of people are involved in the trade in the locality.
Traditional Chappals (slippers) manufactured in Charsadda are famous all over the country for their unique design and comfort. The cluster has also started making hand-made shoes, bags, belts and small leather accessories. Presently, large numbers of pairs are exported as well as supplied to other cities of Pakistan for retail and export purposes.
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