LAHORE: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the game changer of the transition towards economic stability of the country therefore; these should be supported and facilitated.

This was crux of the speeches delivered at a seminar on “Empowering SMEs with Sustainable Business Solutions,” jointly organised by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Scalling up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network Pakistan with the support of Pakistan SUN Movement.

The purpose of the seminar was to promote sustainable solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and provide a platform for stakeholders to share the findings of a study recently conducted by GAIN and SBN, in partnership with Entrepreneurship Development and Advisory Services (EDAS), on mapping, connecting, and strengthening relevant SMEs and entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs).

The representative of the chamber of commerce and women chamber of commerce welcomed the participants and emphasised the role of the government in supporting businesses. Senior Policy Advisor from GAIN and the Head of Provincial Office UN World Food Programme (WFP) presented and highlighted and shared the evolving global approaches and the developments during the meeting. Portfolio lead from GAIN shared success stories of SBN in developing partnerships of local businesses with global businesses. Programme Policy Officer SUN Movement explained the multi-sectoral governance structure for nutrition and highlighted how successfully we integrated nutrition including Early Childhood Development, School Nutrition and School meal into the key policy documents and programmes.

LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that Pakistan is a developing country where over 90% percent industries and SMEs. He said that these are not only backbone of the economy but are also help Large Scale Manufacturing sector to play its due role.

He said that focus should be shifted to the SME sector of Pakistan as these are considered the engine of economic growth in both developed and developing countries.

The event highlighted the significance of the private sector in the food value chain and discussed the Enabling Business to Advance Nutrition Index (EBANI), an innovative advocacy tool designed by GAIN and SBN to enable the private sector to contribute to advancing positive nutrition outcomes.

The event also presented the findings of the “Map, Connect, and Strengthen SMEs” study that is focused on assessing the technical and financial needs of the SMEs and SME Service Providers, provide trainings to cluster SMEs and SME Service providers and develop a liaison of the SMEs with the relevant service providers/partners to suffice their technical and financial needs.

The SBN Women and Youth Empowerment Strategy outline was shared by the Africa Regional Manager, Gender & Youth Technical Lead.

The co-chair SBN and country coordinator mentioned that SBN Pakistan is the private sector arm of the SUN Movement in Pakistan, which supports businesses to produce and increase the access and availability of affordable, safe, and nutritious foods to consumers, especially low-income consumers. In Pakistan, SBN convenes businesses, assesses technical, financial, and other business support service needs of SMEs, and advocates the role of business in addressing nutrition at the country level.

The event concluded with stakeholders informed about the technical & financial needs of SMEs, sensitising stakeholders/SMEs on the benefits of joining SBN and how the adoption, of innovative advocacy tools in transforming policy and legislative environments to enable businesses to contribute towards improved nutrition and identifying avenues of collaboration and the way forward.

Also, the audience discussed the avenues for more women-inclusive approaches to business and SBN, with the support of CCIs, women chamber of commerce’s and the youth entry points.

The SUN Movement Focal Point emphasised on the commitment of the SUN networks support and highlighted the importance of the close coordination among the stakeholders on achieving the national nutrition priorities and goals collectively.

He mentioned that leveraging the SBN’s coordination and advocacy platform can play key role in aligning the stakeholders on a single platform to advocate and ensure the provision of affordable, safe and nutritious foods to the vulnerable populations.

The senior vice-president Women Chamber of Commerce committed for all the support from the chamber members and mentioned the importance of review of curriculum review at school level, awareness campaigns and the private sector pledge to support the “zero hunger” initiative in coordination with government.

Participants from SBN member businesses, civil society alliances, academia and research, public and private sectors, technical and financial service providers to SMEs, and women-led SMEs were also present.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023