KARACHI, April 19: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has sought the assistance of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) in setting up SME promotion bureau.

In a letter addressed to NRB chairman Daniyal Aziz, Unisame convener Zulfikar Thaver pointed out that there were some problems with regard to the government department in setting up of the SME promotion bureau.

He said there was an urgent need to convince the government to establish the bureau for speedy upliftment of the sector, which was the largest employer and also worked as an engine of growth.

The objective of establishing the SME bureau, Mr Thaver said, would be to determine the number of small and medium entrepreneurs separately, their locations, clusters and associations, if formed and if not, would group them accordingly.

All the nations of the world develop their economies and industrial base on the strength of SMEs, therefore, an in-depth study with regard to their requirements and impediments is necessary, he added.

There is a great need to focus on direct and indirect upliftment and exposition of SMEs for which arranging exhibitions and fair, adopting collective marketing techniques and developing skills should be taken up from one platform for which the SME bureau could be the best, Mr Thaver maintained.

Similarly, he said there was also a need to arrange special funds for SMEs development and the banks who were reluctant to fund them should be asked to develop special products for the SME sector. The Unisame convener admitted that the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) was doing a good job, but its activity was being curtailed and restricted to a few areas.