Pakistan's first international conference on Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) and Micro-finance with a special emphasis on 'Rural and Urban Outreach Initiatives & Challenges' will be held on November 17 and 18 in Karachi.
The 2-day conference organised by Shamrock Conferences, Pakistan's leading international conference organisers, has received very good support from relevant institutions and distinguished practitioners who are involved directly or indirectly in addressing issues concerning the SME sector and poverty in Pakistan.
From amongst the confirmed personalities so far, include Senator Nisar A Memon, Barrister Shahida Jamil, Kamal Hyat, Salman Burney as chairpersons; and from a group of elite panelists include, Dr Rashid Bajwa, Detlef Kuester, Nilofer Bakhtiar, Salim Raza, Shandana Khan, Ghalib Nishtar, Ozair A Hanafi, Saquib Mohyuddin, Nadeem Hussain, Muhammad Saleem Umer, Shireen Naqvi and Professor S B Hasan.
The conference has been divided into various tracks and sessions, which include: Track 1 (SME) on Policy and Regulatory Framework; Track 2 (Micro-finance) on Engineering Growth - Market Dynamics; Track 3 (SME) on Empowering Women for Developmental Change; Track 4 (Micro-finance) on Outreach v/s Sustainability - The Balancing Act; Track 5 (SME) on CSR Reach-Out and SME, the International Perspective; and Track 6 (Micro-finance and SME) on Human Capital, Manpower and Skills Development.
The Partner-Organisations of the conference include, Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF); Mobilink, Khushhali Bank Limited, Pak-Oman Micro-finance Bank Limited, DHL and Unisame. The conference is expected to attract a large turnout of delegates.-PR