Oxfam in Bangladesh and the SME Foundation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs), promote and influence the ecosystem, enhance financial inclusion and strengthen the SME sector, which constitutes nine-tenths of all enterprises there, the former recently announced on social media platform X.

The country’s 7.8 million SMEs represent a quarter of the total labour force and four-fifths of industry employment, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) estimates.

The MoU is expected to improve business support services and entrepreneurship development programmes for SMEs, which will be offered essential awareness and skills on entrepreneurial business and financial management, digital and physical market integration, and access to financial resources, particularly for those in the incubation and growth stages.

A key focus will be to enhance SMEs' transparency and traceability, making them more attractive to commercial lenders.

The partnership will work to connect financial institutions with SMEs using alternative credit scores and market linkages to extend affordable and adequate credit to deserving clients, according to domestic media outlets.

The collaboration will also focus on strengthening business support services, piloting youth-inclusive financial models, advocating for better SME funding policies and enhancing connections between FIs and SMEs.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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Oxfam in Bangladesh, SME Foundation sign MoU to jointly empower SMEs

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