Pakistan’s key regulatory bodies for small businesses and corporate affairs have initiated a significant partnership aimed at formalising the nation’s vast Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector. The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) and the Security Exchange Corporation Pakistan (SECP) said today that they had agreed to strengthen their collaboration to encourage the registration of informal businesses.
The decision was reached during a high-level meeting at SMEDA’s head office, co-chaired by SMEDA CEO Ms. Nadia Jahangir Seth and SECP Commissioner Mr. Muzzafar Ahmed Mirza.
The new strategic cooperation will involve several key initiatives, including the development of a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the formation of a joint focal group, and a concerted effort to advance women-led entrepreneurship. The bodies also plan to align the definitions of SMEs and startups, and establish a joint facilitation desk to assist businesses.
Nadia Jahangir Seth, who was accompanied by her senior management team, underscored the critical need for SMEs to enter the formal economy. She expressed optimism that the joint effort would significantly spur the pace of business registration and that a formal MoU would establish a long-term roadmap for this mutual cooperation.
On his part, SECP Commissioner Muzzafar Ahmed Mirza stated that a record of over 35,000 new companies had been registered in the current year, a figure 27% higher than the previous year. He emphasised that the benefits and ease of official registration must be effectively projected to attract more informal enterprises.
Mirza voiced confidence that the SMEDA-SECP partnership would be instrumental in persuading informal SMEs to transition into the documented sector.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from both organisations. The SMEDA delegation included Ms. Saleha Saeed, Raja Hassanien Javed, and Mr. Arif Chaudhry, while the SECP team featured Registrar of Companies Shehzad Afzal Khan, among others.