The government has taken initiatives to develop more than 8,000 digital centers in the country as “one stop service centers” for the Cottage, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CMSME) to boost economy.
As a result, the CMSME will get information, training, wider access, advice and easier financing which will help to boost their businesses.
As per Prime Minister's directive, SME Foundation and a2i will work to develop more than 8,000 digital centers in the country as “one stop service centers” for the CMSME.
On Wednesday, NM ZiaulAlam, Senior Secretary of Information and Communication Technology Department, inaugurated the pilot program in 30 digital centers as part of this program in the conference room of SME Foundation at ParjatanBhaban at Agargaon in the capital.
Dr Md Mofizur Rahman, Managing Director of SME Foundation presided the programme.
Md. Mofizur Rahman, Managing Director on behalf of the SME foundation and project director Diwan Muhammad HumayunKabir on behalf of A2I signed the MoU.
Mofizur Rahman said, labor-intensive and low-capital CMSME sector has an important contribution to the development of Bangladesh's socio-economic conditions, employment generation and desired economic growth.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the opening ceremony of the 8th National SME Product Fair directed the establishment of SME consultation centers in all districts and upazilas for the development of small and medium industries in the country, he mentioned.
According to his instructions, SME Foundation and a2i started working to establish all Union or Upzilla Digital Centers as ‘One Stop Service Centers’ to provide information, advice and skill enhancement to the entrepreneurs of the CMSME sector in the country and to ensure easy financing for the entrepreneurs of this sector, he added.
“From June to September of this year, workshops were organized with the participation of potential Union Digital Centres (UDCs) entrepreneurs from five departments including Dhaka. Initially, SME Foundation and A2I have started implementing the pilot program in 30 union digital centers in 27 upazilas of 22 districts. These centers will act as ‘one stop service centers’ for the promotion of SME industry. Entrepreneurs can avail here from business establishment to business expansion, business and technical training support, consultancy services.”
However, on 11 November 2010, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Union Information and Service Center (UDC) in 4,511 unions of the country.
Poura Digital Center (PDC) in 328 Municipalities in 2013 and Nagar Digital Center in 465 Wards of 11 City Corporations, six Specialized Digital Centers (SDC) (five in Gazipur for Garments Workers and one in Rupsa for Fishery Workers in Khulna) were opened in 2018.
