The Ministry of Industry’s Central Department of Small and Medium Enterprises Development is to cooperate with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to provide information and technology necessary for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The project aims to deliver development opportunities in tourist destinations and transit areas where tourism-related businesses thrive, owing to the recent growth in visitor numbers in Myanmar.
In addition to the hospitality businesses such as hotels and restaurants, development of the local industry and handicraft production will be targeted by the project, which is planned to be launched in March, Daw Aye Aye Win, deputy director general of the SME development center told Myanmar Business Today.
“Mostly SMEs operate in those areas. The project is designed to provide funding and technology as well as capacity building support for them so that they can grow from small to medium and then into large enterprises.”
Currently the officials are in talks with ILO on the distribution of information and technologies in the project areas which will first cover the businesses near the hotel zones in Ayeyarwaddy region’s capital Pathein and Chaung Thar beach and SMEs in Myeik Archipelago in Tanintharyi region.
“Most SMEs in our country apply conventional practices. They need to adapt by changing their values and mindset about business and be professional,” Daw Aye Aye Win added.
The union government has set aside a pool of K20 billion from which states and regions can get one billion each to issue loans to SMEs which have been inspected and approved by relevant local electric and industrial ministries.
The Center of SME Development reached an agreement with Singapore’s government to get a $20 million loan which will be used to lend to SMEs in 2015-16 fiscal year and is currently in negotiation with Vietnamese officials to secure a $30 million loan.
