Buyer-Seller Summit 2025 begins in Dhaka

Business Report :

The SME Foundation, with support from the World Bank, has organized a two-day “Buyer-Seller Summit 2025” at the Institute of Architects Bangladesh at Agargaon in the capital, began yesterday.

The summit seeks to strengthen market linkages for products crafted by entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs from SME clusters nationwide, while helping established businesses source diverse suppliers.

A total of 46 women-led enterprises and 25 SME clusters are showcasing their products and supply capacities to commercial buyers, institutions, and established businesses.

The participants represent different sectors, including leather, light engineering, handloom, hosiery, fashion and home textiles, nakshi kantha (embroidered quilts), wood and bamboo-cane products, pottery, and jewellery.

Md Nuruzzaman, additional secretary of the Ministry of Industries, inaugurated the summit as chief guest, according to a press release.

The event was chaired by Md Musfiqur Rahman, chairperson of the SME Foundation. Highlighting the importance of clusters, the SME Foundation chairperson said a 2013 study by the foundation identified 177 clusters across the country involving nearly two million workers, of whom 74 percent were male and 26 percent female.

“About 70,000 companies in 177 clusters across 51 districts generate an annual turnover of around Tk 30,000 crore. Subsequently, 20 more clusters have been identified,” he noted.

Among the most significant clusters are those in light engineering, handloom, embroidery, small garments, handicrafts, furniture, bamboo and rattan, jewellery, and leather goods.

Rahman observed that cluster entrepreneurs continue to face challenges in marketing, access to finance, technical and managerial capacity, quality improvement, workplace safety, and health standards.