SME Foundation on Tuesday signed a loan agreement with Bangladesh Bank for the expansion of the foundation's loan program to Tk50 crore.
General Manager of SME Department of Bangladesh Bank Sheikh Md Selim and Managing Director of SME Foundation Md Shafiqul Islam signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations at the central bank head office.
Attending the ceremony as the chief guest, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said that the central bank will provide Tk50 crore to the foundation, from which the foundation will provide loan to SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) clusters and women entrepreneurs through different banks.
He assured that proper distribution and utilization of the loan fund will encourage them to provide more funds in the future.
Since 2009, SME Foundation has been implementing a special loan program called "Credit Wholesaling" to bring SME clusters, new entrepreneurs, rural entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs to easily avail loans.
Through various banks and financial institutions, the entrepreneurs are financed with collateral free loans of 9% interest under the program.
The idea behind this loan program is to increase the capacity of the SME businesses and entrepreneurs, and reduce their financial burden.
Under this program, 1,700 entrepreneurs were financed by December 2018, out of which nearly 35% were women. Seeing the increasing demand for the program, Bangladesh Bank approved this loan fund for further expansion.
Among others, Deputy Managing Director of Bangladesh Bank SM Moniruzzaman, Executive Director Md Abdur Rahim, Directors of SME Foundation, Brac Bank, and Mutual Trust Bank, and Managing Directors of Bank Asia and Midas Finance Ltd, were also present at the signing ceremony.
