Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar chaired a meeting on PM’s Kamyab Jawan Programme (PMKJP) for establishing utility stores franchises across Pakistan.
The meeting was attended by Hammad Azhar, Minister for Industries, Muhammad Usman Dar, SAPM on Youth Affairs, MD Utility Stores, and senior officials of the government.
Dar informed the meeting that about 250,000 applicants who applied for loans under PM Kamyab Jawan Program are interested in opening up retail stores. He said that loans under PMKJP can be extended to the already established franchises and also for setting up new franchises under the umbrella of Utility Stores Corporation.
Planning Minister Asad Umar said that Phase-II of PM’s Kamyab Jawan Program in collaboration with the Ministry of Industries will give loans for the establishment of Utility Stores’ franchises.
He said that lending to such franchises has the benefit of ensuring that loans are secured and these stores would effectively play the role of market stabilizers. He further said that the existence of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a prerequisite for successfully monitoring and running such stores.
Hammad Azhar said that his Ministry would assess the proposed plan of lending to about 1000 operational franchises under USC and also work for presenting models for establishing new stores. He added that lending for opening franchises would be scaled up after successfully launching a pilot project.
The meeting agreed to finalize loans for such a scheme under the PM Kamyab Jawan program after deliberations on the proposal by all stakeholders.
