Islamabad: The Prime Minister’s Youth Programme (PMYP) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at improving access to finance, business support and entrepreneurial opportunities for young people and micro, small and medium enterprises across Pakistan.
The agreement, signed on September 10, brings together PMYP’s nationwide youth outreach and digital infrastructure with SMEDA’s expertise in enterprise development, financial literacy, capacity building and business advisory services.
The initiative will particularly focus on young entrepreneurs, women-led enterprises, emerging businesses and underserved communities that often face difficulties accessing formal financing and professional business-development support.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan, Chairman PMYP Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan and SMEDA Chief Executive Officer Nadia Jahangir Seth witnessed the signing ceremony.
Joint Secretary PMYP Dr Muhammad Ali Malik and SMEDA General Manager for Policy and Ecosystem Group Sheharyar Tahir signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
Speaking on the occasion, Haroon Akhtar Khan said expanding access to finance was essential for converting Pakistan’s entrepreneurial potential into sustainable businesses, employment and investment.
He said the government, under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s vision, was seeking to create an environment in which young Pakistanis could transform business ideas into commercially viable enterprises while enabling existing MSMEs to obtain the resources necessary for growth.
Pakistan’s youth, he said, represented one of the country’s greatest assets, adding that financing alone would not be sufficient without providing entrepreneurs with the knowledge, advisory support and business skills required to use capital productively.
The PMYP-SMEDA collaboration is therefore expected to address what officials described as the gap between access to financing and “enterprise readiness”.
Under the arrangement, young entrepreneurs will receive greater access to training, financial literacy programmes, business-planning resources and advisory services alongside information about available financing opportunities.
PMYP Chairman Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan highlighted various initiatives being undertaken through the youth programme and expressed confidence that closer cooperation with SMEDA could reduce financing barriers and improve the competitiveness of young entrepreneurs.
SMEDA CEO Nadia Jahangir Seth said access to finance involved considerably more than simply making loans available.
Entrepreneurs, she said, also required reliable information, appropriate business-planning tools, financial literacy and guidance to successfully navigate financing procedures.
Through the partnership, SMEDA intends to make its business-development resources and technical expertise more accessible to young entrepreneurs and MSMEs.
The authority will conduct awareness campaigns, training programmes and outreach initiatives while offering practical resources including pre-feasibility studies, business-plan templates and financial planning tools.
SMEDA will also organise programmes explaining the Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan (PMYB&AL) Scheme, including its eligibility requirements, documentation and application procedures.
The organisation is also expected to work with banks and other stakeholders to strengthen financial literacy and increase awareness of formal financing channels among entrepreneurs.
A significant component of the partnership will involve SMEDA developing new business ideas and enterprise concepts that may subsequently be considered for financing through PMYP mechanisms.
The agreement also contains a major digital-access component.
PMYP will disseminate support material prepared by SMEDA through its social-media channels and the Digital Youth Hub, while selected SMEDA resources will be incorporated into the platform to provide entrepreneurs with easier access to business-development and financing information.
Both institutions will also promote the PMYB&AL Scheme through their respective websites, including dedicated information sections and direct digital links.
The agreement comes as Pakistan seeks to strengthen its MSME sector, which remains critical to employment creation, entrepreneurship and broader economic activity. Improving the ability of small businesses to obtain financing while simultaneously strengthening their managerial and financial capabilities has increasingly emerged as an important component of the country’s enterprise-development agenda.
The PMYP-SMEDA partnership is expected to provide a more integrated route for young entrepreneurs — connecting business ideas, technical guidance, financial education and potential financing within a broader entrepreneurship-support ecosystem.
