PESHAWAR: Khyber Pass Economic Corridor (KPEC) in collaboration with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KP-EZDMC) is going to establish a gender inclusive business park exclusively for entrepreneurs at Peshawar. This unique concept would also be replicated in other feasible locations of the province as well.
The facility will offer series of services to support resident start-ups operated and run-in houses other scattered clusters. In this connection, KP-EZDMC would provide direct support to the business operated in the Business Park (BP), where they will be able to manage the business, trade and exhibit their products.
In addition to other basic civic facilities, the park will also provide training facility for capacity building of the workforce and entrepreneurs.
In this connection, a formal memorandum of understanding (MoU) has already been signed between the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KP-EZDMC) and Khyber Pass Economic Corridor (KPEC), Project Management Unit (PMU), Planning & Development (P&D) Department for the establishment of interim setup for the initiative. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) KP-EZDMC, Javed Iqbal Khattak and Project Director (PD) KPEC, Imran Zahoor signed the memorandum on behalf of their respective organizations in the presence of the KP Minister for Industries, Commerce and Technical Education, Mohammad Adnan Jalil and Secretary Industries KP Government, Mati Ullah Khan. In contrast to the idea of Business Incubation Centre that are already available in the province providing support to business ideas at their inception levels and help the start-up eventuate their business concept, this new facility would house existing business owners, who are already struggling to sustain and run their businesses from their houses and find it very difficult to stabilize due to their policies being implemented in the province, wherein the businesses cannot be run through the houses.
Furthermore, there are also small business owners, who lack finances to scale up to the next level by having a proper office setup and an ideal support system to enhance and boost their business setups.
According to an official of the KP-EZDMC, the proposed Inclusive Business Development Centre (IBDC) would extend opportunity to the existing and potential entrepreneurs lacking sufficient investment to build a manufacturing unit of their own to initiate their business in a business environment till the time they do not scale up to a self-sustainable level.
It offers an array of services, including buying; selling of the products of small-scale manufacturers and unlike incubation centres it will have a production house on the top storey of the building to accommodate small-scale businesses to manufacture in the same building.
Likewise, to make it convenient for start-up and potential entrepreneurs, the ground floor of the building would be a business centre to be rented out to all corporate sector offices related to the business management of the small-scale business. It will also play a role of an expo centre and a source of B2B match making for the small-scale entrepreneurs and they will get an exposure to run their businesses in the Peshawar Economic Zone, hence a source of encouragement for them while looking at the successful and running industrial units in the neighbourhood in a full-fledge business environment. He said that the purpose of providing enabling working opportunities and financial/economic empowerment in KP, the KP-EZDMC intends to support such micro level businesses in their home-based and small ventures, establishing their businesses with convenience to create a more sustainable and inclusive economy.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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