The ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) organized a multi-stakeholder conference in Lahore aimed to address Pakistan’s financing gap, next to the need to devise policy to assist SMEs to scale-up.
ACCA brought together over 60 SMEs leaders in Pakistan including representatives from Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA).
The ultimate aim of ACCA event on SMEs vision and strategy is to help Pakistani start-ups and small business to scale-up achieving something in a global research programme that faced a lot of difficulties with limited time and resource, many still fail to put it in practice which could be costly to long-term success.
The business leaders who spoke at the event included Nadia Seth, GM Policy and Planning, SMEDA, Ghalib Nishtar,President, Khushhali Bank and Kamal Mian, Director, Fast Cables.
Kamal Mian, Director, Fast Cables said, At Fast Cables we have a plainly set and communicated vision and mission underpinned by core values of Quality, Innovation, Customer Focus, and Performance with Integrity, Teamwork and Respect for People.
The research also found that 49% of SMEs do not engage anyone external in their strategy discussions, regardless of the benefits experienced by those that do, which include additional experience and knowledge of the industry sector (according to 46%), an independent perspective / constructive criticism (44%) and advice on their growth strategy (39%).
The ACCA report highlighted the governance needs of SMEs, where simple but successful practice over vision, strategy and human capital can endow with greater flexibility, adaptability and resilience as they grow a huge factor in the long-term sustainability of the business.
Arif Masud Mirza accomplished the panel debate, saying: “We anticipate that this research helps SMEs in focusing on some of the most crucial issues, and can be a resource not just to SMEs themselves but also to policymakers.”