SME Foundation is going to set up a Business Incubation Centre (BIC), one in Dhaka and another in Chattogram, to facilitate entrepreneurship development and create employment, the non-profit said yesterday.

"At the same time, a national strategy for incubation facilities in Bangladesh is in the final stage of development," it added in a press statement.

Cottage, small and medium enterprises play an important role in a country's economic development. "So, there is no alternative to strengthening these firms in order to strengthen the economy," said Kamal Ahmed Mojumder, state minister for industries.

He was addressing a virtual workshop organised by SME Foundation focusing on the national strategy and to present the draft strategy for incubation facilities.

The BIC is a system of supporting the development and scaling of growth-oriented early-stage enterprises.

The process provides entrepreneurs with an enabling environment at the start-up stage of enterprise development.

It generally focuses on supporting and promoting entrepreneurship, increasing employment through job creation, enhancing local, regional and national research and development as well as innovation.

"In Bangladesh, the understanding about the SME business incubator or accelerator is still at a very nascent stage," said Huliya Tetik, a consultant on business incubation for the SME Development Project Phase-2 which is funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The concept of entrepreneurship is well known but there is a need to raise awareness on the importance of entrepreneurship and SMEs for the regional and national economy, she added.

Tetik went on to say that there was passion, interest, available resources and innovative ideas in the country.

However, a roadmap, information sharing, leadership quality, trained people and connectivity are needed to forge an enabling environment that supports the start and growth of new SMEs, according to the workshop.

Revenue generation to sustain the BICs is one of the key challenges, Tetik said.

The draft strategy paper suggested establishing a national coordination committee comprising representatives from various ministries, including that of industries, finance and ICT and various universities, in order to set up and manage incubation centres throughout the country.

The panel will work to facilitate easy access to finance and tax benefits for entrepreneurs and to recognise those who become successful.

SME Foundation Chairperson Md Masudur Rahman said they would work to support entrepreneurs and implement the SME policy 2019.

SME Foundation Managing Director Md Mafizur Rahman moderated the session.