ICOSA holds SMEs seminar
A seminar titled “Role of SMEs in the national economy—the case of Japan and how Bangladesh should go ahead” was held at Banani Club in the city on Thursday.Professor Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud presented the keynote papers at the seminar as chief guest. Former secretary and NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid also spoke at the function. International Cooperation organisation for Small and Medium Enterprises in Asia (ICOSA) jointly organised the seminar.ICOSA was established on 7th June, 2017 in Japan. The purpose of ICOSA is to provide a place for small business owners in Asian countries including Japan to learn together and collaborate together so that SMEs should play the leading role in revitalizing Asian economy.15 members ICOSA team visited Bangladesh to understand “The SMEs Prospect and challenges in Bangladesh”. To give the team a clear understanding two seminars were organised by Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chittagong AOTS Alumna Society (CAAS) and Bangladesh AOTS Alumna Society (BAAS) in Chittagong and Dhaka on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. ICOSA president Professor Naohiro Kurose also presented a keynote paper on the role of SME in Bangladesh and Japan.In Japan, SMEs account for 99.7 percent of enterprises or 3.8 million companies including 410,000 manufacturing companies, and those who work there share 70.1 percent of employed workers or 33.61 million for non-primary industry in 2014.SMEs are contributing as a place of labor for many people in any era, but in addition to that, SMEs play a different role for the national economy in each era than large enterprises.
