EARNISTAN

The Government of Pakistan has launched Prime Minister’s Youth Business Loan Scheme. Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif announced the scheme in Islamabad on Saturday. The Prime Minister’s Youth Business Loan Scheme is aimed to enable young men and women run their own ventures. Maryam Nawaz, who daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has been appointed Chairperson of the scheme. She has stated that there won’t be any discrimination, however, 50% of the fund is allotted for females while 5% has been allotted for family members of martyrs, widows and people with disabilities.

The loan will be available for young entrepreneurs between ages 21 to 45. Anyone bearing a valid National Identity Card (NIC) within the age limit can apply for the loan. The first year will be a grace period and the fund will be distributed  Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The loan will be provided with  markup of 8% per year with a tenure of up to 8 years. About 100,000 young entrepreneurs will benefit from this scheme. Initially, National Bank of Pakistan (NPB), First Women Bank Limited (FWBL) and Small & Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) have been designated the financial institutions.

Guidelines for Prospective PM’s Youth Business Loan Applicants (Via SMEDA)

SMEDA has taken the initiative of developing pre-feasibility studies in eight (8) sectors, and as per directions of the Prime Minister, has made them available for the loan beneficiaries, through the SMEDA website, for the promotion of an entrepreneurial culture in Pakistan. To date, our website has recorded more than 700,000 downloads of the published pre-feasibility reports.

These prefeasibility studies provide a general understanding of the proposed business, and are structured like a business plan. However, to assist the prospective entrepreneurs / loan applicants, SMEDA will provide a template for business plan preparation and requisite guidelines for the loan applicants.

Download the Application form Here