Assistance facility to boost Lao SME growth
Assistance facility to boost Lao SME growth
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Laos now have greater prospects to strengthen and develop their businesses and become more competitive after the establishment of the Business Assistance Facility (BAF).
The SME Promotion and Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in cooperation with the BAF unit held a seminar to outline the principles of the business assistance facility to Vientiane SMEs and some sectors of the government.
The seminar, which took place in Vientiane, is the third that the SME Promotion Department has organised, after the first and second were held in Champassak and Luang Prabang provinces respectively to launch the BAF at the end of last year.
“The BAF will help to update the quality of SME products accessing export markets and assist in developing businesses to compete in domestic and regional markets,” the SME Promotion Department Deputy Director General Mr Soutchay Sisouvong said at the opening seminar.
The assistance will be of great economic benefit for Laos after it recently became a World Trade Organisation member and will integrate with the Asean Economic Community by next year.
The project will be implemented over three and a half years with the aim to promote privately owned Lao producers of goods and services including tourism, natural products, agri-business, furniture and coffee, along with Lao business associations such as trade associations and chambers of commerce.
The BAF will work with each individual company or association to develop an agreed and costed marketing plan suited to its own potentials.
Under a BAF grant agreement, 50 percent of agreed costs are reimbursed after the BAF recipient has paid the full activity cost and submitted proof of completion and payment. Grants for each company or group of companies may not exceed a cumulative maximum of US$200,000.
For approved business associations, the grant can be up to 75 percent of agreed costs and no single association may receive more than US$40,000 in BAF grants.
The activities assisted are export expansion, diversification into new markets and new products, market research, trade fair participation; ISO, HACCP (food safety) or other relevant standards; management information systems, production, quality control improvements, advertising and packing.
Eligible costs include: airfares and travel expenses, consultancy fees, training costs and materials, trade fair space rental and construction, catalogues, brochures and webpage design.
Mr Soutchay said the BAF does not support building or construction costs, equipment costs, working capital, isolated activities not connected to an overall agreed marketing plan or activities already completed.
The BAF is a component of the diversification and competitiveness sector of the Second Trade Development Facility Project (TDF-2), a multi-donor trust fund established to support the implementation of the government's trade and integration priorities.
vientiane times
