| How
does this grant matching service scheme work?
We try to help companies
become more competitive in the world market by offering
various kinds of private services. Our clients are
exporters or deemed exporters (that is not direct
exporters -- they are producing for direct exporters)
and what we call threshold exporters -- all the
facilities are in place and with assistance from us they
will be able to start their export career.
We finance 50 percent of
the cost of the services. The areas where we promote
these services are in company development, product
development and market development.
In company development we
work with them on things such as distribution
capability, bringing in a consultant from abroad. On
meeting ISO standards, we provide the technical
assistance. We reimburse 50 percent of the costs. A
client has to spend the money first from his own
resources, providing the receipts.
We have helped about 435
clients in various industries.
How have you developed
your services?
One important development
is that we assist companies in developing a sample or
prototype of a product that has to be sent to a buyer
for their approval. This could mean inviting someone
from abroad to help them with this product development.
In market development we
assist companies in participating in international
fairs, everything from tickets to transport of goods. We
also help them in market missions, for negotiations. If
a company needs a marketing consultant to explore the
market in a country, we can also pay back 50 percent of
the expenses.
We know that some clients
have been able to come away from fairs with fantastic
orders for the first time as exporters. Companies from
Bangladesh's software sector have gone to Silicon Valley
on a marketing mission and came out of the talks with
orders.
This can't always be an
instant process. How do you treat companies when orders
are somewhat slower in coming?
We do not expect that
within one year you will inevitably make an impact. As
an indicator in these circumstances, we look at the
contacts that have been developed -- 25 potential buyers
for example.
What is the framework for
the programme?
We are financing the
programme with about US$ 12 million --
US$ 24 million including the companies' part
-- through credit from the World Bank to the Government
of Bangladesh in collaboration with an Irish company
that has 35 years of experience in matching grants in
some 29 countries with great success, for example, in
Uganda and Argentina. We started the office focus in
1999 as a three-year programme. But looking at the
impact it has made there is already talk in the World
Bank of extending the programme, not only in terms of
time but also in the amount.
But it remains a private
venture...
This is the best part
about it. It is a private programme aimed only at
private entrepreneurs without interference from the
government. And when you look at the clients in the
pipeline -- and there is a huge number of them -- we are
not financing the multinationals, whose marketing
decisions are not made in Bangladesh.
What have been the
spin-offs from the scheme?
In order to obtain
assistance, an exporter -- whether a direct or deemed
exporter -- must submit an export development plan.
However, we find that many of the SMEs do not have this
in-house capability. This is where one-to-one assistance
is given in developing the plan and maturing it to
approval level.
We have developed a
roster of consultants, so that if a company needs help
we can act as a reference service. ISO is another
service where clients are coming in a big way. We also have a roster of consultants offering technical
assistance. |
