The three-day ‘Shuponno Somahar: Environment-friendly Microenterprise Fair 2024’, organized by PKSF, ended on 10 February 2024 with a huge turnout and a massive enthusiasm among those who crowded the Bangabandhu International Conference center (BICC) on the weekend.

Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah, Secretary of the Financial Institutions Division, graced the closing event of the Fair in the afternoon on 10 February 2024. He said an effective realization of the vision of a Smart Bangladesh by 2041 requires sustainable advancement of the rural people in general, and the rural poor in particular. Development of microenterprises will have a direct, positive impact on poverty alleviation efforts by generating self and wage employment opportunities, he added.

PKSF Chairman Dr M. Khairul Hossain, who presided over the closing event, re-iterated PKSF’s commitment to ensure inclusion of the disadvantaged to the mainstream of development. He said PKSF, through its wide-range of interventions for microenterprise development, is complementing the government’s efforts of realizing Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s directives of turning Bangladesh into an ‘export basket’.

The fair was organized under PKSF’s Sustainable Enterprise Project (SEP) which, since 2018, has been supporting the production and marketing of high-quality value-added products within the microenterprise sector of the country. The primary focus of this project is to encourage the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices among microenterprises.

Highlighting different achievements of the project, PKSF’s Additional Managing Director Md Fazlul Kader said environmental sustainability must be ensured in any commercial production. Otherwise, he continued, waste management will become a major concern for Bangladesh in near future.

SEP Project Coordinator AKM Zahirul Haque delivered the vote of thanks.

With a total of 60 stalls representing micro-entrepreneurs supported by the SEP project of PKSF and 47 stalls representing PKSF’s Partner Organizations, the fair offered a diverse array of value-added products to visitors.

Of them, four micro-entrepreneurs were recognized for excellence in their operations. Concrete block-maker Rabiul Islam from Thakurgaon was awarded as the Best Environment-friendly Entrepreneur, handicraft-producer Zuena Ferdous Mitul from Rangpur as the Best Women-friendly Entrepreneur, Jamdani saree-maker Md Rubel Mia from Narayanganj as the Best Employee-friendly Entrepreneur, and flower-grower Sajeda Khatun from Jashore as the Best Woman Entrepreneur.

The Fair was inaugurated on 8 February 2024 by PKSF Chairman Dr M. Khairul Hossain. Dr Nomita Halder ndc, Managing Director of PKSF, delivered the welcome remarks there.

Funded jointly by PKSF and the World Bank, the Sustainable Enterprise Project has made significant strides in promoting environmentally sustainable practices among microenterprises. Through 64 sub-projects implemented through 47 Partner Organizations of PKSF, over 65,000 microenterprises across 37 districts of the country have received financial and technical support under this project.