BAHAWALPUR: Faculty of Management Sciences, the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) and Pakistan Institute of Banking and Finance State Bank of Pakistan jointly organized a seminar for Entrepreneurship Skill Development for students here in the Main Auditorium of the varsity.

On this occasion, students were provided information about business opportunities under the Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan program. The seminar was chaired by Prof. Dr Muhammad Ashraf, Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

Prof. Dr Jawad Iqbal, Dean Faculty of Management Sciences, Najeeb Ahmad Bukhari Chief Manager State Bank of Pakistan Bahawalpur, Gulzar Khan Joint Director State Bank of Pakistan, Mubashir Tayyab Deputy Director National Institute of Banking and Finance and Muhammad Arif Officer State Bank of Pakistan spoke on this occasion.

A detailed briefing was given about the Central Revenue Banking and Monitoring Authority of the State Bank of Pakistan. The bank was inaugurated on July 1, 1948 by the Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah for monetary and banking regulations and other matters. It was informed on the occasion that the Government of Pakistan is encouraging Entrepreneurship and Start-ups Schemes and Rs 100 billion has been allocated for the next financial year.

The participants were briefed on successful start-up schemes in Pakistan. So far 66 such start-ups have been set up including PITB, ITU, NUST, TIC, Pasha Funds, Seed Incubation, Microsoft Innovation Centre, SMEDA, Cloud 9 Start-ups, National ICTRD Funds, Eagle Investment and COMSATS Incubation Centre.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is setting up a large incubation chain. The participants were briefed on the opportunities and information of Small and Medium Enterprise Pakistan. In the end, the participants were briefed about the State Bank of Pakistan’s refinancing scheme, especially the Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Program, a 100 billion refinancing scheme. Under which young people can start new business start-ups. As of March 2021, loans of Rs 435 billion, or one per cent of GDP, have been disbursed under the scheme. The students expressed interest in the State Bank of Pakistan’s business schemes and pledged to launch new and innovative start-ups.