Peshawar: A sum of more than PKR 410 million has been approved for over 480 Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a news source reported. The Economic Revitalisation of KP and FATA (ERKF) – funded by the Multi-donor Trust Fund (MDTF) – approved the grant under the Round-II of the project.
This second round received a positive response from the business community of the province. More than 3,000 SMEs have applied for the grants. These are SME’s that belong to the districts hit by calamities and terrorism. It particularly included the Malakand division. The Project Unit (PU) established under the Small & Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) received the applications.
Sources reported that the largest number of applications came from Lower Dir, followed by Swat and Chitral. Analyses show that women entrepreneurs have expressed keen interest in the project, with over 270 women having applied for the grant.
Grants are also being offered for the concerns of rehabilitation, up-gradation, and cluster development. These grants have paved the way for private sector investment in the province.
Up to PKR 2.5 million for rehabilitation
Up to PKR 2 million for upgrading
Up to PJR 10 million for cluster development under Common Facilitation Centre (CFC)
Two committees will be responsible for processing the incoming cases. These are, namely, the Documentation Review Committee (DRC) and the Grants Review & Decision Committee (GRMC).
The first will review the documents and present them to the second committee. The latter, featuring both public and private sector representation, will take decisions based on majority voting procedures – after having thoroughly scrutinized the cases.
This project’s first round was successfully completed in the 2012-17 period. It surpassed its targets by a factor of 200%, and distributed grants worth PKR 1.5 billion among 1,700 SMEs. Collectively, it has been responsible for creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the region.
For the second round, the authorities concerned have sanctioned PKR 1.2 billion for SMEs both in KP and FATA.
Interested individuals can obtain application forms from the following locations:
Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI)
Department of Tourism & Industry
Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (WCCI) Peshawar
SMEDA’s official website
The project has also re-advertised a notification welcoming applications from SME’s; including women-run businesses, tourism-related businesses, and CFC or cluster grant requests.
