DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES, POLICIES AND PROGRAMS BEING IMPLEMENTED BY THE VARIOUS AGENCIES IN BANGLADESH

	Initiatives, Programs, Policies	Public Sector Organizations/ Donors	Private Sector Organizations	Results (Success/Failure)
A	Promotion of Entrepreneurial Culture
1	SME promotional Councils/bodies	SME Cell SME Advisory Panel		Just formed
2	Entrepreneurship development promotional campaigns	Bangladesh Small & Cottage Industries Corporation
3	Awards for Successful SMEs – “Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year”		Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industries
4	Quality Awards for SMEs
5	President/Prime Minister’s mention about entrepreneurship in his/her speeches/statements and budget statements	Prime Minister, in her speech, mentioned about SMEs.
6	Entrepreneurship Development Action Plan at the national level	Very recently an Action Plan has been prepared and approved by the government
7	Government’s vision promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness at the national level	SME Policy Strategies have been adopted by the government
8	Promotion of Entrepreneurship Profile for SMEs
9	Promotion of benchmarking and best practice networks	To be done	Model beginning has been made on this score by the efforts of such private-sectors efforts as Katalyst.
10	Promotion of Women and Youth entrepreneurship	Government has been  implementing different projects for women entrepreneurship development	Women trade bodies are working for women entrepreneurship development
11	Promotion of e-business and ICT development	Government has been implementing ICT projects	Private sector ICT business is growing fast
12	Promotion of technological innovation for SMEs		Trade bodies
13	Promotion of financial products and schemes for SMEs	ADB loan for SME lending State-owned SME bank	Private commercial banks and financial institutions
14	Productivity promotional campaign for SMEs	National Productivity Organization
15	Promotion and availability of SME database, SME publications, SME web-based portals for information and business matching	Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics SME Website launched by SME Cell	Katalyst/SEDF/ GTZ/ JOBS/ MIDAS
16	Provision of infrastructural facilities	BSCIC Industrial Estates
B	Regulation and Policies
1	Laws/Regulations/Policies for SME development at the national level – Availability of a SME Framework	Industrial Policy 2005 and SME Policy Strategies 2005
2	Policies /Regulations to support technological development
3	Policies/Regulations for ICT development	Project on ICT/web-portal is under implementation
4	Policies/Regulations for SME’s access to markets
5	Policies/Regulations for SMEs’ access to financial facilities
6	Policies/Regulations for Entrepreneurship Development (separate policy in addition to the SME Policy, if any)	Industrial  Policy 2005
7	Bankruptcy laws which smoothens the exit of enterprises that are not sustainable or competitive	Bankruptcy Law 19===
8	Labor Laws and employment regulations affecting SMEs	Yes
9	Infrastructure facilities/exemptions provided to SMEs	BSCIC provides
10	Specialized Prudential Regulations for financing to SMEs	Not yet
11	Regulations on Financial Incentives for SMEs i.e. tax exemptions/benefits, duty concessions for SMEs	Nothing special
12	Policy/Regulation for Productivity Development in SMEs	Not yet
C	Administrative Environment/Framework
1	Availability of permanent or ad-hoc units/cells mandated to represent SME views in the regulatory process	SME Cell under Ministry of Industries
2	Councils/Consultative bodies/Task Force for SME development  and/or to take SMEs’ views into consideration while formulating policies and procedures	National Taskforce on SME Development
3	Experts Advisory/Advisory Board/Specialized Boards set up to develop SMEs (in general or in specific sectors)	SME Advisory Panel
4	Availability of Productivity improvement programs for the SMEs	yes
5	Availability of Entrepreneurship Profile/Entrepreneurship Indicators for the country	Yet to be developed
6	Systems/programs to monitor the entrepreneurial profile, entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial business environment (EBE)
7	Programs/focus on developing Entrepreneurial Mind-sets, corporate vision and corporate entrepreneurship	Bangladesh Bank-the Central bank
8	Procedures for development of SMEs:
a	Registration of firms, formation of a new company, listing requirements	Yes
b	Exit of uncompetitive firms	No
c	Compliance and reporting	No.
d	Licensing	No.
e	Accounting standards	Yes
f	IT driven communication through web portals	No
g	Taxation	Yes
h	Utilities	Yes, but patchy
i	Standardization	No.
j	Quality certificates, ISO certification	Essentially no
D	Entrepreneurship Training and Education
1	Entrepreneurship Curriculum at universities and colleges (covering start-up strategies, entrepreneurial behavior, application of marketing and finance to start-up, entrepreneurial finance such as venture capital and angel investors, intellectual property rights, franchising, corporate entrepreneurship/entrepreneur, prototyping, technology transfers, etc.)	Entrepreneurship is  taught at some of the best private universities as  part of BBA and MBA courses.
2	Internship programs/attachment with enterprises for developing entrepreneurial skills	No
3	Linkages between SMEs and colleges/universities	Very little
4	Institute of Entrepreneurship – (separately discuss model of the institute and services provided, if applicable)	Bangladesh does not have any institute of entrepreneurship
5	Entrepreneurship Training programs i.e. technical trainings, management trainings; trainings on corporate social responsibilities, entrepreneurship ethics, productivity and quality consciousness, use of information technology, ICT development, developing internal synergies and alliances with their employees, etc	Entrepreneurship development is included in courses offered by Bangladesh Institute of Management (BIM), which is under the Ministry of Industries. National Productivity Organization (NPO), also in the MOI, actively seeks to enhance the standards of quality-administration in practice in the country
6	Other Skill Development Training Programs and Institutes (directed towards self-employment and entrepreneurship development, etc)	More than 100 Vocational Training Institutes (VTIs), which are variously under the administrative oversee of several ministries (Labour, Textiles, Education), exist to offer relatively short-term re-skilling training programmes
7	Quality Standardization and Testing Institute	No
8	Other Training Institutes for human resource development of SMEs	No
E	Network and Linkages for SME Development
1	Availability of Enterprise Cluster (separately discuss parameters and dynamics of the cluster model, if applicable)	There are between 30 and 40 clusters based on one or the other products, in the  country.
2	Availability of business development and business support service providers (Separately discuss specific models of these service providers, specific services are being provided, and how are these services marketed to the SMEs)	BSCIC used to  perform a lot of profiling and then disseminating, among its own network of SCI entrepreneurs, of potentially viable business and industrial ventures.  However, it essentially no longer does that, due to funding problems.  Similarly, technology universities such as BUET is often approached by especially engineering industry owners for support in terms of assessing steel strength, and the needed degree of tempering in metals, for an agreed fee.
3	Availability of business advisory/consultancy services for SMEs	No.	There are some consulting firms who sell such expert services
4	Strategic alliances and joint ventures within domestic and/or international markets in SMEs	No	No
5	Sub-contracting support for SMEs by larger enterprises		Yes, in apparel and knitwear industries
6	Availability of business incubators (separately discuss the model of incubators most commonly used)	No	No
7	Linkage programs for market access /programs, product development, technological access, etc for improving domestic and international market access for SMEs	No	No
8	Supply chain and value chain networks in the country and internationally	Yes	Yes
F	Technology and ICT
1	Initiative for cross border technological cooperation (joint R&D, joint commercialization), regional association for technology-led enterprises	No	No
2	Technology business incubators	No	No
3	Availability of back-up/pilot and demonstration projects which foster innovation and technological development	No	No
4	Facilities for developing technopreneurs – availability of knowledge centers, research and development centers, and testing laboratories, etc	No	No
5	Facilitation of benchmarking exercises and sharing of best practices – Best Practice Networks	Benchmarking facilities exist in desultory manner in BUET and other technology universities
6	Availability and facilitation of e-business and e-commerce practices, use of internet and other e-market, e-business methodologies
7	Availability of web-based SME portals, SME database, information networks
G	Financial Support
1	Support and role of the Central Bank in providing financial access to SMEs
2	Availability of specialized Financial Institutions for SMEs
3	Specialized financial products and incentives for small enterprises
4	Availability of SME Fund, Technopreneurship or Intrapreneurhsip Fund, etc
5	Availability of Venture Capital Funds or risk financing mechanisms, risk mitigation fund, credit guarantee schemes
6	Grants for SMEs for technological assistance, market access, productivity improvements, research and development, innovations, product development, e-business, ICT development, supply chain networks,  etc

#	Question		Response
A	Basic Background Information of the SME
1	Name of the SME (organization)	Corbel International Limited
2	Name of the Proprietor/CEO	M. Saiful Alam
3	Date of Formation	1995
4	Legal Status	Limited-liability company registered by the Registrar, Joint Stock Companies, Bangladesh
5	Economic Sector	Agro-chemicals
6	Main Products	Distributing insecticides, fungicides, weedicides, etc
B	Business/Operations/HR Strategies (Internal)
1	Does the firm has a corporate vision and mission statement	Be a market leader; ensure opportunities for growth farmers through the route of high yield and low costs; contribute to achieving self-sufficiency in food.  Corporate mission is to achieve yearly, quarterly and product-wise targets.
2	Has the firm chalked out short term and long term objectives/goals	Yes, short-term objective is about achieving yearly sales targets.  Long-term objective is about achieving and maximizing shareholder value over a horizon of some 15 years.
3	Are annual action plans developed in accordance with these objectives? Are the employees’ opinions and feedback made part in determining annual objectives and targets? Does the firm practices the concept of “management by objectives”/corporate entrepreneurship?	Annual budget meeting, planning and feedback meeting are conducted with respect to short- and long-term objectives. Mid-level managers and division heads work in a group to set objectives and targets. Company follows the MBO to achieve the vision and mission
4	Is emphasis placed on individual responsibility and reward based on results	Individuals are of course responsible to produce assigned/settled results, which the management considers the basis for reward.
5	Does the management organizes its human resource in venture teams to deliver the objectives	Management trained its Human Resources (HR), follow or feedback to achieve the objectives and organization goals.
6	What is the organizational structure of the firm. Is it a flat hierarchy? How is work managed amongst different departments/units. Is there coordination amongst different departments and process of operations? How is this managed?	The organizational hierarchy of this company is quite flat, in the sense that keeping costs to the barest minimum is a priority.  With five functional divisions---Finance, Marketing, R & D, HR, and Production---all reporting to the CEO, there is ample coordination at work.
7	Does the firm believe in innovation and creation of new ideas for products and services? How is this managed?	Company systematically encourages innovation and creativity.  It organizes zonal workshops with a view to
8	Has the firm taken initiative to develop new products/diversify into new products/business opportunities to match market needs or to enter into new markets. Is this done on a continuous basis. Get examples of these initiatives	Company took initiatives of related diversified business to fulfil the markets need, ie mosquito coil-FMCG.
9	What is the firm’s policy on pricing its products/services. Are competitors’ prices kept into account when determining price levels	Management adopts best pricing strategies which competitive and within buying capability of users. Pricing strategies deeply analyzes competitors’ price to find out the best price level
10	Does the firm explore new markets, both domestic and international on a continuous basis. What are its current markets and how did the firm reach this status. Has the firm adopted e-marketing or e-business techniques. Does the firm uses internet facilities for sharing its information and expanding market potential	CIL continuously explore new markets in domestic areas.  Current markets are agro-chemicals within which niche segments are continuously exploring new opportunities  to reach the status. E-marketing is not applicable for our agro-chemical business.  CIL share internet facilities gathering and transferring information from local and global sources.
11	What marketing strategies are used by the firm to sell its products. Are the 4 “P”s of marketing considered. Are these strategies revised from time to time.	CIL provides best cost, differentiation and niche strategies as per nature of markets.  CIL always consider product, price, place, promotion, which it revises from time to time per the needs of the market.
12	Is the firm conscious of providing quality products/services and maintaining it. How is this ensured. Has the firm acquired ISO certifications	“Quality is CIL’s commitment”.  So, CIL provides quality products and service to our valued customers and CIL seeks to maintain it at all costs. CIL ensures quality by practicing TQM in all of our activities of production, sales, marketing, customer service, R & D, HR, etc.
13	Has the firm taken the initiative to replace old plant and machinery/technologies or technological methodologies for improving production. How were new technologies acquired. Were the human resource trained to use new technologies	All of CIL  equipment and technology platform have not as yet reached a stage when replacement is imperative.  CIL continually welcome new technologies for cost-effective production.  CIL launched re-skilling of its human resources per the requirements of upgrading of its equipment stock.
14	Has the firm adopted any productivity improvement technique to effectively enhance its operations i.e. kaizen, 5 S, total quality management, quality control circles/work improvement teams, balance scorecard, Just in Time, business process reengineering, etc. If yes, how are these implemented and managed	CIL had adopted TQM, KAIZEN (eliminating unnecessary activities) through innovation in all of its activities such as production, sales, HR and R & D.  TQM is sought by achieving close-to-zero defects during production, KAIZEN in CIL’s daily activities.
15	How does the firm monitors and manages the cost of its operations/cost of production. Has the firm devised methodologies for reducing cost of operations/production and overhead costs i.e. bulk purchases, maintaining optimal level of inventories, timely shipments/delivery of products, managing utility consumption, human resource placement, business process, reducing reworks and rejects, improving communication and selling methodologies, etc. Does the firm benefit from economies of scale	CIL monitor operation cost and production cost by setting target and by comparing actual with targeted cost.  CIL reduces the cost by adopting economies of scale, discount during bulk purchase, by maintaining minimum inventories, minimizing rework and  rejects, improving communications, and sale skills of its sales force.
16	Is the firm familiar with business control systems such as accounting, record keeping, financial analysis, book keeping, profit center, collections, forecasting, etc. Are these systems used in the management of the business	CIL does practice Business Control System (BCS) both in its Accounts  (Financial analysis) and marketing (forecasting).  All its divisions are familiar with BCS
17	Does the firm have a computer software to manage its business operations. Are HR working on the system been appropriately trained/skilled. Is the firm familiar with ICT development. Has any initiative taken in regard of implementation of ICT. If yes, how have these initiatives helped in the business growth	CIL  does use computer software in the interest of more timely and cost-effective management of its business operations.  HR managers are appropriately trained in terms of the information systems.  CIL has already deployed custom-developed application software in warehouse, in the interest of having an instantaneous enterprise-wide view of mission-critical variables of senior management interest.its
18	Does the firm compare its performance i.e. business/production growth, sales growth, cost of production, profit growth, return on investment, market share, staff retention, etc with its competitors in the market (industry indicators)	CIL compares  business performance, ie growth in sales, profit, return on investment, market shares versus its industry comparators.
19	Does the firm have a HR recruitment policy. Is the recruitment policy followed when hiring employees. Are internal employees given opportunities to fill in job vacancies before advertising/fresh hiring	CIL has a HR recruitment policy by which management hire employees.  CIL prefers promotion of suitable in-house candidates to fill new vacancies before it advertises.
20	Are there explicit job descriptions for each employee	Every employee has a specific job description approved by the departmental head.
21	Is there a performance appraisal system in the firm. How often is performance appraised in one year. Is there an incentive and reward policy based on performance appraisal	CIL developed a semester-wise performance appraisal guideline to evaluate employees, and such evaluation is the basis for award of incentives bonus
22	Is there a promotion policy in the firm. Is the performance linked to the promotion policy	Promotion is  linked with performance.
23	Are the salaries of the employees market based. How are the salary packages and incentives compared to other firms in the sector. How are the salary packages and incentives compared within the firm with peer groups	Salaries are market-based: packages and incentives proposals are submitted by field managers comparing with similar industry, then department head approves by keeping remuneration package in line with the organization.  Salary package and incentives of the peer group are set in view of nature of jobs.
24	Does the firm has policy of giving annual bonuses and other financial incentives to its employees	CIL gives two Festival Bonuses, and a performance bonus to its employees
25	Is human resource development considered important for enhancing productivity of the firm	Management consider proactive HR policies essential to achievement of high staff productivity.
26	Does the firm have a training policy for its employees. Does the firm allocates annual budget to training of employees	CIL organizes semester-wise training program for employees to upgrade skills.  The company makes specific allocation in its annual budget on account of staff training.
27	Are internal training programs organized for the employees; if yes, how often in one year. Which level of employees are trained internally	Internal training is provided to employees twice a year (in June and December).  Staff in production, marketing and quality-control department are a priority in training.
28	Are employees sent on external training programs; if yes, how often. Which level of employees are sent on external training	Employees trained by external institutes such as Bangladesh Institute of Management (BIM), Dhaka.  Operations staff receive priority in such external training.
29	Does the firm focuses on motivational programs for its employees. Does the firm focuses on building staff morale and retaining its employees	The firm focuses on motivational program such as CEO and Departmental Heads visit the field associates to build rapport and to boost morale of the field forces.
30	Is there any employment security offered to employees.	CIL attaches great significance to staff job security.
31	Are employees provided employment growth opportunities/career paths within the firm	Employees are offered opportunities for professional self-advancement through the route of external and internal training, on-the-job training.  Promotion is always meritocratically determined.
32	Other initiatives:	The best performer has opportunity for responsibility of diversified business.
C	Business Development/Support Mechanism (External)
1	Did any government regulation/policies/procedures support the growth of the enterprise. Yes/No, please elaborate	The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has helped CIL, recommending its products  to farmers.
2	Has any government intervention in terms of support organizations, councils, consultative groups, task forces, advisory bodies, incubators, export promotion facilitation, etc facilitated the development of the firm	Government’s subsidies have in parted helped.
3	Has the firm accessed/not accessed formal financing. How has this facilitated in the business development	Firm has accessed institutional finance.  Without such start-up financial intermediation, CIL could not have reached where it is now.
4	Has the firm benefited from any grant fund	CIL never got any grant money from any source.
5	Does the firm have access to infrastructural facilities	CIL’s repacking unit is located in one of the BSCIC’s Industrial Estates, located some 60 miles from the capital city of Bangladesh.  This access to BSCIC’s fairly developed infrastructure has certainly helped.
6	Has the firm benefited from entrepreneurship development programs and other trainings offered by universities and training institutes	Yes, from BSCIC.
7	Has the firm benefited from any technological network, fund or facilitation	CIL has benefited from the Internet: it manages its entire supply chain using the Internet
8	Does the firm know about the ways of working with bankers, accountants, attorneys, utility providers and tax authorities. How does it handles this	CIL has retained services of a professional Chartered Accoutant (CA) so that its workings with bankers and accountants are on solid footing.
9	Others:	CIL organizes customer-education program, excursion program for distributors and retailers, foreign tour, special reward for the best marketing performance.

#	QUESTION	RESPONSE
A	Family Background
1	Do you come from a family that owned a business	Yes
2	As a child, did you sell anything to earn money		No
3	Do you have a relative who is in business		No
4	Are you between the ages of 16 and 45	Yes
5	Are you married or single	Yes
6	If you are married, is your spouse supportive of the personal and financial risk involved in the business		No
7	Were you the first-born child in your family		No
8	Have you suffered the death/divorce of a spouse or parent		No
9	Do you belong to a middle class family	Yes	No
10	Do you have a lot of family obligations/liabilities	Yes	No
B	Personal Characteristics
1	Are you inquisitive, creative, innovative and aggressive	Yes
2	Do you enjoy solving problems	Yes
3	Do you like to make things happen	Yes
4	Do you enjoy taking personal and financial risks	Yes
5	Do you consider yourself free and independent spirit	Yes
6	Do you have high need for achievement	Yes
7	Do you take rejection personally	Yes
8	Do you like to move around a lot	Yes
9	Do you feel you are more lucky than hardworking	Yes
10	Do you use advice of external consultants		No
11	Do you believe that you can control your own destiny		No
12	Are you a consistent goal setter and result-oriented individual	Yes	No
13	Can you make quick decisions	Yes
14	Do you have high energy level	Yes
15	Do you follow through with implementation when a decision has been made	Yes
16	Do you believe in your own power to accomplish goals	Yes
17	Do you have high moral and ethical standard	Yes
18	Are you dedicated and committed to being in business for yourself	Yes
19	Can you inspire and motivate other individuals	Yes
20	Do you know how to multiply your talents	Yes
21	Have you ever made an assessment of your personality characteristics		No
22	Do you believe in the power and success of self-directed learning	Yes
23	Do you wake up happy 99% of the times	Yes
24	Do you consider yourself ambitious		No
25	Do you provide a period during each day for thinking, studying, planning or relaxation		No
26	Do you enjoy power, control and authority		No
27	Do you consider yourself enthusiastic, imaginative and tenacious	Yes
28	Do you know how to protect your ideas from thieves	Yes
29	Do you have a personal bank account	Yes
C	Business Experience/Knowledge at Commencement
1	Did you have specific experience in the area of business you undertake	Yes
2	Did you have personal funds to start up your own business	Yes
3	Did you have managerial skills when you started your business	Yes
4	Were you willing to work longer hours for a minimal amount of money to set up your own business	Yes
5	Did you have a college degree or special skills and knowledge from a vocational or technical institute at the start of your business	Yes
6	Did you know how to raise money for starting a business or expanding it	Yes
7	Did you know how to develop a business plan for presentation to a group of investors/bankers	Yes
8	Did you know the four Ps of marketing	Yes
9	Did you know how to explore for markets to sell your product	Yes
10	Did you know how to determine “break-even” point. Do you know now	Yes
11	Could  you read financial statements, project cash flows	Yes
D	Business Practices/Knowledge at Present
1	Do you know how to enter into a franchise, JV, technical collaboration, strategic alliances, etc for business growth	Yes
2	Are you familiar with current business and tax laws/regulations and policies	Yes
3	Do you know how to get free publicity for your products or service	Yes
4	Are you familiar with differences and benefits of a proprietorship, partnership and a company	Yes
5	Are you aware of the different government and non-government programs supporting SMEs in your country	Yes
6	Have you benefited from any of these programs		No
7	Are you aware of different entrepreneurship development training programs offered in the country. Have you benefited from them		No
8	Are you accessing formal financing	Yes
9	Can you read financial statements	Yes
10	Do you know what motivates customer behavior and buying habits	Yes
11	Do you have experience in organization, planning, budgeting, personnel, marketing, advertising, administration, or evaluation	Yes
12	Are you respected by your peers at work and by your friends in other areas of your life	Yes
13	Do you constantly explore new technologies, markets and business opportunities	Yes
14	Do you strive to learn for better business management practices and cost effective methodologies	Yes
15	Do you adopt e-business methodologies in your business		No
16	Do you believe in employee training, motivation and retention	Yes