Latest news with #Smeda
Business Recorder
04-07-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Smeda, Jica ink agreement on ‘Capacity enhancement of women entrepreneurs'
LAHORE: The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) have inked an agreement for 'Capacity Enhancement of Women Entrepreneurs' in the informal economic sector of Punjab. Chief Executive Officer of Smeda Socrat Aman Rana, and Head of Jica Mission Komahshi Rie, signed the agreement at a ceremony held at Smeda Head Office Thursday. On this occasion, CEO Smeda Socrat Aman Rana welcomed the Jica Mission and highlighted the project's importance for the economic development of women entrepreneurs. He said that enhancement of women entrepreneurs was the priority of both provincial and federal government in Pakistan. He assured to work hand in gloves with Jica to achieve objectives of the agreement. Head of Jica Mission Komahashi Rie, expressing her views in the signing ceremony, expressed satisfaction on collaboration with Smeda in the women entrepreneurs' empowerment initiative. She said 'it's a challenging project but it will prove to be a breakthrough to overcome barriers faced by micro-level women entrepreneurs.' It is notable that the initiative titled as 'Project for capacity enhancement of women entrepreneurs in the informal economic sector in Pakistan', is the culmination of a series of meetings and consultations between Smeda, Jica, and relevant public and private sector stakeholders in Punjab. The five-year project (2026-2030) envisages development of a Women Entrepreneurs Booster Package (WEBPA) to facilitate business growth of the women entrepreneurs. It will also provide comprehensive support through a multi-stakeholders forum, which will mobilize public and private organizations along with Smeda to enhance women entrepreneurship in Punjab. The project will formulate a Scale-up Strategy and Action Plan (SUSAP) for the application of WEBPA with the goal of extending its benefits to women entrepreneurs across Punjab and other regions of Pakistan. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
28-06-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
National SME Survey launched
Listen to article In a landmark step towards data-driven policymaking, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) formally launched field operations for the National SME Survey at a ceremony held at the PBS office in Lahore, which coincided with the World MSME Day. Senior leadership from both organisations attended the event and emphasised the critical importance of the SME Survey in shaping the future of Pakistan's economic landscape. In his speech, Smeda CEO Socrat Aman Rana highlighted that SMEs were the backbone of Pakistan's economy, contributing 40% to the national GDP, 31% to total exports and generating nearly 78% of total employment. He underscored that despite their pivotal role, the lack of reliable and comprehensive data has historically hindered the development of effective, targeted SME policies. PBS Chief Statistician Naeemuz Zafar remarked that the survey was being undertaken in a phased manner and was designed to cover strategic sectors of SMEs.
San Francisco Chronicle
13-06-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. Unicorns make long-awaited Bay Area cricket debut at Oakland Coliseum
Thursday opened with a five-hour drive from Pismo Beach to the Oakland Coliseum for Neville Smeda, a native of South Africa who was initially skeptical of how Major League Cricket would logistically pull off its Bay Area debut. Smeda made it through the gates of the former home of Athletics baseball with about an hour to spare, proudly decked out in green and gold. He was not repping the A's. The South Africa men's national cricket team, aka the Proteas, share the same colors. Smeda rushed up the steps of the Coliseum, a storied venue that had never welcomed the likes of cricket across its 59 years in existence, with one thing on his mind: Could a baseball diamond be adapted to the oval shape characteristic of an authentic cricket field? In the week leading up to the MLC season opener, a rematch of last year's finals between the San Francisco Unicorns and the reigning champion Washington Freedom, Smeda left the same comment on a number of the league's Instagram posts promoting cricket in the Coliseum: 'Is it oval?' He never received a response. But when the cricket purist saw the finished product for himself, he was more impressed than disappointed. The field on which the Unicorns bested the Freedom by a score of 269/5-146 — the largest margin of victory (123 runs) in MLC history — did not appear as a perfect oval. Close enough, conceded Smeda, who marveled at the fact that a crowd of 5,126 people showed up to watch a cricket match in California. 'I watched five games last year in Dallas, that was an OK crowd,' Smeda said of Grand Prairie Stadium, MLC's staple site in Texas. 'Maybe the most was about 1,000 people. 'This, I think, is incredible.' The sight was several years in the making. In 2022, MLC CEO Johnny Grave first identified the Coliseum as a potential forum for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. The size of its playing surface, he said, was uniquely adaptable for cricket. The A's occupation at the time ultimately ruled the possibility moot. Bay Area cricket fans may have been the only people who actually applauded the A's move to Las Vegas, and Sacramento in the interim. 'In order for it to have real sporting and cricketing integrity, we needed to play in venues where the boundary size, the size of the playing surface, was akin to all the best cricket grounds in the world,' Grave told the Chronicle. 'The Coliseum is the only baseball ground in the U.S. that has that size of playing arena.' By the end of a seven-day stretch, nine MLC matches will be hosted in what was once the heart of Oakland sports, since abandoned by its marquee franchises. The Raiders left for Las Vegas in 2019, the same year the Warriors departed for San Francisco. And the A's are hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for their proposed ballpark in Sin City in less than two weeks. Sabi Lali, a Unicorns fan dating to their inception in 2023, was just grateful he could watch a pro cricket match in person again. Born and raised in India, home to the India Premier League, widely regarded as the best cricket league in the world, Lali has lived in the Bay Area for 15 years. The closest thing to live cricket he could find were community tennis-ball matches. Of course, he never stopped following his favorite IPL club, the Punjab Kings, as a native of the Punjab region. Most matches start around 7 a.m. PST, the start of a two-hour span when he shirks all fatherly responsibilities while his wife takes their two kids to school: 'I do not know my family during those two hours,' Lali joked. As soon as the Coliseum matches were announced, Lali purchased $200 worth of tickets to make a family field trip out of cricket's historic introduction to the West Coast. Because certain boundaries of the Coliseum's adapted cricket field were atypically narrow, sixes — the equivalent to home runs in baseball — soared into the stands at will. A whopping 19 sixes, the world record for modern T20 cricket (the sport's condensed three-hour format), were hit Thursday. As many fans had a chance to catch the game ball, albeit before throwing it back into the field of play, an unwritten rule of the sport. Smeda's piece of advice for folks used to catching baseballs with a mitt: 'Get out of the way.' A cricket ball is heavier and harder than a baseball, despite how easy world-class cricket players made it look to catch with their bare hands. One of the draws of MLC is how many top international talents the league has attracted. 'It's not just a slogan,' said Smeda, who especially lauded New Zealander Finn Allen, the Unicorns batsman who set a single-match league record for runs batted in (151) to avenge his team's championship loss to the Freedom a season ago. 'It was an amazing experience,' Allen said. 'We wanted to come out here, first time with Oakland, throw the first punch and put on a show.' Well before the final result of Thursday's match rang out over the stadium intercom to celebrate the local Unicorns as victors, cricket won. Smeda, who grew up playing cricket in South Africa from age 5, was in awe of the scene, marked by his beloved sport's uniquely diverse fan base all gathered in one place. The place in question being the Oakland Coliseum only sweetened the moment. It was proof of concept for what cricket, long renowned worldwide, could become in America — and especially in the East Bay, where diehard fans could finally emerge from obscurity Thursday. 'This is my happy space,' Smeda said. 'Cricket in America is one of those where you get nationalities from all over the world. I love to meet the Bangladeshi and the Pakistani and the Indian and the Sri Lankan and the Englishman and the Australian. I mean, there's just so much passion for it … which is one of the reasons I think (MLC) came to San Francisco because you have a very diverse population here.'
Express Tribune
04-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Govt expands SME definition
Listen to article Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Industries and Production, Haroon Akhtar Khan, introduced the Prime Minister's SME Development Vision during a media talk at the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) office on Saturday, ahead of the Smeda Board of Directors' meeting. SAPM Khan stated that the Prime Minister considers the SME sector as the key to economic development and aims for Pakistani SMEs to compete with their counterparts in global markets. Khan informed that, following the Prime Minister's directive, the definition of SMEs has now been expanded to include micro-enterprises. As a result, businesses with an annual turnover of less than Rs30 million will now be able to benefit from the privileges and facilities available to SMEs. He pointed out that millions of small businesses are currently operating within households across Pakistan but remain hidden from the formal economy and are unregistered. These businesses are neither growing themselves nor contributing to national development. He assured that the government will soon offer incentives to bring these informal businesses into the formal economy.
Express Tribune
01-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
84% of SMEs informal
Listen to article The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) has marked the International Labour Day by ensuring labour rights in all Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) development initiatives. In a joint statement, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar, Federal Secretary Ministry of Industries and Production Saif Anjum, and Smeda Chief Executive Officer Socrat Aman reaffirmed full support for boosting employment and skill development in SME sector. This commitment aligns with the Prime Minister's SME development vision, to be implemented by the Ministry of Industries and Production through SMEDA. He stated that the Ministry of Industries and Production was working to protect workers' rights while increasing job opportunities in the SME sector under PM's vision. Federal Secretary Saif Anjum informed that the Ministry of Industries and Production (Mop) in partnership with the ILO had launched "the Enterprise Formalisation Project, which will also formalise the labour force to improve their employability and access to the new job markets by developing the skills required for a just transition in response to climate change. Smeda CEO said, "At Smeda, we are committed to looking after the complete value chain of the SME sector, in which labour plays a pivotal role. He informed that Smeda development projects also include capacity-building initiatives for the labour force of the country to provide them with the necessary tools, training, and resources to compete in the job market. "Over 84% of Pakistan's workforce operates informally within the SMEs and home-based sectors, creating barriers for businesses and workers alike. This informality limits access to critical markets, financing, social protections and skill development," he said and hoped that the "Enterprise Formalisation Project" launched by MoIP in collaboration with ILO will remove these anomalies.
