Entrepreneur-ship development through coaching, networking and facilitation can play a key role in the national economic development and can best serve the youth looking for employment elsewhere in an environment of economic liberalism, said Friedrich Naumann Foundation Resident Representative Peter-Andreas Bochmann.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of a two-day Young Entrepreneurs Development Workshop, organised here by a Lahore-based consulting company, Development Pool at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI).
Bochmann said the rule of law has played the most important role in promotion of business and entrepreneurship in the West, and Pakistan is no exception. He called for working towards free market and respect for freedom and property rights.
The workshop is being organised to impart skill-oriented training and education to young entrepreneurs, who have recently started their ventures; impart knowledge, and best practices of successful entrepreneurs in Pakistan; and create network between successful entrepreneurs and budding entrepreneurs.
The first day of the workshop was marked with speeches by Hajra Tabassum, Peter-Andreas Bochmann, FCCI Vice President Muzammil Sultan, Faisal Anwar, CEO of a leading group of companies, Ali Salman, and Professor Anwar Khan from the University of Faisalabad.
Faisal Anwar detailed the process of entrepreneurship in Pakistan and shared how he overcame these hurdles. Anwar Khan from the University of Faisalabad led the group discussion on Entrepreneurship by using the cases prepared by the Development Pool.
Ali Salman, shared his past business mistakes, and gave a presentation on 'How not to do business." Three sessions are held on second day of workshop in which Munir Ahmad, chief manager, State Bank of Pakistan (Gujranwala), highlighted the efforts of the State Bank in enhancing lending opportunities to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Punjab Smeda chief Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry gave a brief introduction of Smeda services to the participants that it is offering in order to promote young entrepreneurs in various cities. Danish Ayub, director, Kenlubes and Young Entrepreneurs Organisation media in-charge gave a inspiring lecture to unlock business success.
The promotion of SMEs entails enhancement of the competitiveness of the economy and generation of additional employment. A thriving SME sector has long been recognised as one of the key characteristics of any prosperous and growing economy, he added.
According to more recent estimates, there are approximately 3.2 million business enterprises in Pakistan. Enterprises employing up to 99 persons constitute over 95 percent of all private enterprises in the industrial sector and employ nearly 78 percent of the non-agriculture labour force. They contribute over 30 percent to the GDP, Rs 140 billion to exports, and account 25 percent of exports of manufactured goods besides sharing 35 percent in manufacturing value added.
However, there has been concern that in Pakistan the SME sector has not been able to realise its full potential. The SMEs continue to suffer from a number of weaknesses, which hamper their ability to take full advantage of the opening of economy and the increasingly accessible world markets. The constraints are normally identified as labour, taxation, trade capacity, finance, and credit availability, they highlighted.
In the end, certificates were distributed among participants. The participants in the workshop are mostly owners and proprietors, who have set up small enterprises. Some of them are the students of final year MBA class in local universities.
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