ICICI, Cybermedia launch SME Knowledge initiative

New Delhi, Apr 9: With a view to strengthen Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), ICICI Bank and CyberMedia, a speciality media house, today announced launch of a programme for entrepreneurs from the sector in 26 cities which will impart skills and relevant knowledge.

The programme will also bring down the rate of sickness in the SME sector as lack of knowledge is often a cause of failure. ''One of the basic causes of sickness in the SME sector is the tendency to over borrower. A change in the environment can upset the appple cart with the borrower getting entraped in debt, leading to erosion of net worth,'' Mr Vijay Chandok, Senior General Manager and Global head, SME, ICICI Bank, told newspersons here.

Mr Chandok said the rate of sickness among the SME sector was significant.

''The three success mantras of entrepreneurship are vision, conviction and passion. It has now dawned upon many that the fourth one is knowledge,'' Mr Chandok added.

The programme will cover identified industrial clusters in 26 different cities, offering an opportunity to the CEOs to interact with experts in various fields such as human resources, taxation, marketing, financing and entrepreneurship. The experts include practising professors from IIM Calcutta, taxtation experts from the advisory Deloitte and bankers from ICICI Bank.

Cybermedia Chairmann Pradeep Gupta said, ''The first half of the programme is titled 'Financial Clinic.' It is a first of its kind customised session where experts will give advice on how to raise capital for each stage of a business providing entrepreneurs information on financial procedures like debt financing, private equity, forex advice and other risk management products.

In the second half, there will be a one-on-one meeting session with experts where each etrepreneurs will get sufficient time to interact and discuss their concerns with the mentors.

This will be followed by a panel discussion, which will include local successful; etreprenurs from the concerned clusters.

''The idea is to create vibrant ecosystem for the SMEs'', Mr Chandok said.

The programme is free of charge.

UNI