SME Foundation plans to hold SME Fair by November

Due to the coronavirus situation, the SME Foundation has postponed the National SME Product Fair 2021 scheduled for March this year.

The SME Foundation now plans to arrange the fair in late-October or November.

The SME Fair is organised every year to promote locally produced SME products and expand their market.

The SME Foundation was set to organise the week-long 9th SME Fair in the capital's Bangabandhu International Convention Centre. As part of the move, it also sought applications from entrepreneurs for stall allotments and received 250 applications.

Md Mafizur Rahman, managing director of SME Foundation told The Business Standard, "We were taking preparations for the fair. But during our board meeting held on 25 January, we decided to postpone the fair due to the ongoing pandemic."

"The entrepreneurs showcase their products and people enjoy visiting the stalls in person, so we thought it best to postpone the fair," he added. 

"We will hold a meeting on 9 February to finalize the date. We plan on organising the fair in late-October this year, but that does not work, we will do so by 15 November," Mafizur Rahman continued.

The 8th National SME Product Fair 2020 kicked off in the capital's Bangabandhu International Convention Centre on 4 March last year.

During the nine-day-long fair, entrepreneurs sold products worth Tk4.95 crore, and also received work orders worth Tk6.37 crore.

296 small and medium enterprises participated in the last year's SME Fair with 309 stalls.

They showcased locally made products such as jute goods, food and agriculture products, leather goods, electronics and electrical items, light engineering products, handicraft and plastic and synthetic items.