In the last 12 to 15 years, the rate of new entrepreneur creation in the country has decreased alarmingly, said Commerce Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir.
In this regard, he said, “Very few new entrepreneurs have been created in the past years. Those who were already owners of industries and factories have mainly expanded their wealth. And the main reason behind this was the shortage of gas.”
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at a program organized on the occasion of International MSME Day at BIDA Bhaban in Agargaon in the capital on Sunday. The program was organized by SME Foundation and ILO.
The Commerce Minister said, “The rate at which new entrepreneurs were created in the country from 1991 to 2006 has sharply decreased in the next 10-15 years. As a result, the economic flow has remained confined to certain hands. This is a main recipe for increasing income inequality and we have followed it. As a result, income inequality has increased a lot compared to 15-20 years ago.”
Referring to the global index of income inequality, he said, “The scale of income disparity is from zero to one. The higher the index goes, the greater the inequality. This inequality here is now much higher than before.”
Comparing with neighboring countries, Abdul Muktadir said, “The contribution of the MSME sector to the GDP of Vietnam, Cambodia and even India-Pakistan is much higher than ours. The contribution of this sector to our GDP is only 20 percent. We want to increase it further, because there is no alternative to strengthening the MSME sector to keep the lifeblood of the economy dynamic.”
Highlighting the government's plan to create new entrepreneurs, the minister said, “We are moving forward with a broad-based plan. A mentorship program is being launched to create new entrepreneurs. A project to establish new industrial parks in Pabna, Sylhet and Nilphamari's Saidpur has been taken through BSCIC. In addition, new feasibility studies will be conducted in industrial parks where plots have been completed and more parks will be built.”
Regarding the gas crisis and industrialization, he said, "In the future, we will pay more attention to industries that consume less energy. And we are working sincerely to solve the crisis by fully utilizing the production capacity of the factories that are currently suffering from gas crisis."
Regarding the theme of this year's International MSME Day - 'People-oriented inclusion in an AI-powered future: Economic empowerment of the next generation of MSME sector', the minister commented that inclusive and sustainable entrepreneurship development taking advantage of technology is very timely in the era of artificial intelligence.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
