DHAKA, Dec 11, 2024 (BSS) - SME Foundation and Visa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support cottage, micro, and small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (CMSMEs) in Bangladesh.

 The three-year partnership was announced yesterday at the SME Foundation's head office, said a press release today.

With this partnership, Visa and SME Foundation aim to provide support to small and medium-sized businesses for capabilities development, using Visa's expert content on financial and business skills.

This includes regional entrepreneurship development training, exchanging global best practices and tools to enhance their skill sets, capabilities for e-commerce and wider markets, secure online payment systems, and facilitating access to finance by introducing visa commercial/SME products and solutions.

Additionally, SME Foundation and Visa will collaborate to design and implement pilot programs for government incentives disbursements, enhancing resource personnel capacity, and strengthening coordination efforts.

Visa will also provide payments intelligence for policy making through tools like the Visa Government Insights Hub, utilizing SME profile data to support and offer various SME-related services.

Anwar Hossain Chowdhury, Managing Director of SME Foundation, and Sabbir Ahmed, Country Manager, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, Visa, along with Shruti Gupta, Head, Commercial & Money Movement Solutions, India and South Asia, Visa, were present on the occasion.

Assistant General Manager Md. Mostafizur Rahman, General Manager Farzana Khan, and other officials from SME Foundation and Visa were present, among others.

Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director of SME Foundation, Anwar Hossain Chowdhury, said, "Our collaboration with Visa marks a significant milestone in SME Foundation's commitment to accelerating the digital transformation of SMEs in Bangladesh.

 By integrating advanced digital payment systems, we aim to enhance financial inclusion, reduce operational costs, and drive revenue growth for SMEs.

Beyond payments, he said the SME Foundation's focus extends to equipping SMEs with cutting-edge technologies such as business intelligence, artificial intelligence, and robust cybersecurity measures, ensuring they remain competitive and resilient in the digital age.

Sabbir Ahmed, Country Manager, Bangladesh, Nepal & Bhutan, Visa, commented, "We are delighted to support the entrepreneurs of our country through our partnership with SME Foundation.

 Visa has demonstrated the power of digital transformation over decades, and we are happy to bring our global expertise to the vibrant SME community."

It is noteworthy that the SME sector currently contributes 32 percent to Bangladesh's economy.

According to the latest economic survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), there are more than 7.8 million cottage, micro, small, and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) in the country, accounting for over 99 percent of total industrial enterprises.

About 85 percent of industrial sector employment is in the SME sector, directly and indirectly employing over 20 million people.

Since its establishment in 2007, approximately two million small and medium entrepreneurs have benefited from various programs of the SME Foundation, an organization under the Ministry of Industries.