SME Foundation partners with NSDA to enhance entrepreneurs' skills 

The SME Foundation and the National Skills Development Authority (NSDA) have agreed to work together to enhance the skills of SME entrepreneurs.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed today (2 January) by Nazim Hasan Sattar, general manager, SME Foundation, and Md Johar Ali from the NSDA. 

The ceremony was attended by NSDA Chairperson Nasreen Afroz and SME Foundation Managing Director Anwar Hossain Chowdhury, according to a press release issued by the SME Foundation.

Under this agreement, initiatives will be undertaken to enhance business development in domestic and international markets, improve linguistic skills for global networking, organise seminars and discussions to strengthen collaboration with industry owners and educational institutions, conduct surveys on domestic and international markets to assess human resource demands, facilitate skill certification from NSDA-approved institutions, arrange trainer training programmes, and provide support for training SME entrepreneurs and foundation officials.

Meanwhile, as per the release, the SME Foundation also signed another MoU with the Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) on the same day, to promote entrepreneurship in the tourism sector. 

SME Foundation Managing Director Anwar Hossain Chowdhury and BTB CEO Abu Taher Mohammad Jaber signed the agreement. The foundation's general managers Farzana Khan and Mohammad Jahangir Hossain were also present at the ceremony. 

According to the press release, the partnership with BTB aims to develop new SMEs in the tourism sector and support existing ones, promote Bangladesh's tourism sector internationally, provide training and financial support for SME entrepreneurs in the tourism sector, and expand eco-tourism and soft tourism initiatives, among other objectives.