Under the first phase of Bangladesh Bank’s "Udyog" program—aimed at discovering young entrepreneurs at the upazila (sub-district) level and generating employment through financing—a total of 18,444 applications have been submitted across eight districts.
These applications were collected from 64 upazilas across eight districts of eight divisions between September 16 and October 15.
Application collection for all upazilas across the remaining 56 districts will begin on November 1.
Bangladesh Bank shared this information in a press release issued on Saturday.
Under the program titled "Udyog: Upazila-Level Young Entrepreneur Search, Identification, and Financing Program," interested youths submitted their applications to the designated scheduled bank branches in their respective upazilas.
According to district-wise data, the highest number of applications was submitted in Netrokona with 5,351 applications.
This was followed by Rangpur with 2,745, Naogaon with 2,456, Jhenaidah with 2,191, Habiganj with 1,552, Bhola with 1,545, Manikganj with 1,343, and Feni with 1,261.
Bangladesh Bank stated that young people in the remaining 56 districts can apply for the program from November 1 to November 30.
Applicants must fill out the prescribed form and submit it to any scheduled bank branch in their respective upazilas.
Application forms can be collected from the Bangladesh Bank website, the SME portal, and the official websites of scheduled banks.
Bangladesh Bank issued the policy guidelines for this program via a circular on September 13.
According to the guidelines, an entrepreneur can receive a maximum financing facility of up to Tk20 lakh.
This comprises a maximum loan of up to Tk10 lakh and a grant equivalent to the loan amount.
Both the loan and the grant funds will be disbursed in a single installment.
However, if the recipient fails to repay the loan, the grant portion will also be converted into a loan.
Therefore, to retain the benefit of the grant, the entrepreneur must fully repay the loan portion.
Eligible sectors under this program include agriculture, food processing, handicrafts, fisheries, livestock, tourism, services, solar power and other renewable energy, light engineering, and technology-based startups, alongside other legitimate businesses.
The objective of the program is to identify promising young entrepreneurs at the upazila level and create financing opportunities to establish new businesses and expand existing ventures.
Bangladesh Bank expects this initiative to generate new employment opportunities.
However, the final number of selected candidates and successful loan recipients following the verification of applications has not yet been determined.
