The successful development of microenterprises in Bangladesh is a noteworthy accomplishment of Palli Karma – Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), according to Abdoulaye Seck, the World Bank’s Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Speaking as the special guest at the closing ceremony of the WB-funded ‘Sustainable Enterprise Project (SEP)’ at PKSF Bhaban today, he said, “I would like to congratulate PKSF for its unwavering commitment and leadership to complete the project successfully.”
According to a press release, the project has been working since 2018 to increase the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices in over 60,000 microenterprises. It has done this by giving them access to a variety of essential services, such as financial, technical, resource development, technology transfer, value chain development, market linkage, and support for brand development.
The chief guest of the evening was Dr. Farhina Ahmed, secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change. According to her, the government is giving efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change first priority while maintaining the rate of economic growth the nation has been seeing for the past fifteen years.
The accomplishments made possible by SEP undoubtedly support government initiatives aimed at accelerating green growth in the national economy.
The program’s chairman, Dr. M. Khairul Hossain of the Pakistan Khairul Foundation, disclosed that over 300,000 individuals nationwide were engaged by SEP-supported microenterprises, the majority of whom are from low-income backgrounds.
“Thanks to the project’s interventions, their living standards have improved.” These microenterprises have the potential to continue to expand and create more employment opportunities even after the completion of the project, Dr Hossain added.
Earlier in the welcome speech, Dr Nomita Halder said that SEP is the first-ever microenterprise development project to include the issue of environmental conservation at its core.
“PKSF currently serves approximately 20 million people through its Partner Organizations by offering inclusive and tailored financing, training, and technical assistance … PKSF emphasized the need for employment generation for sustainably alleviating poverty, and microenterprises have proven to be an effective tool for that,” added Nomita.
Attendees at the event included high ranking officials from various government departments, PKSF Partner Organizations, microentrepreneurs sponsored by SEP, and PKSF officials of various ranks.
