Tang Tua Dai Fund helps SMEs

Tang Tua Dai Fund helps SMEs

The government's Tang Tua Dai (self-sustaining) Fund will benefit small and medium enterprises and strengthen the country's economy, says Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Speaking on her weekly TV programme on Saturday, Ms Yingluck said the project had received cooperation from three parties: universities at which incubation centres would help students with research and development as well as business plan development; university alumni to help provide coaching; and financial institutions to help screen the projects.

The new fund launched last Wednesday aims to support students who have graduated from universities or vocational schools over the past five years to own businesses in 10 fields.

Approved applicants can borrow up to 3 million baht. One-third is funded by the 5-billion-baht Tang Tua Dai Fund and the remaining two-thirds will come from participating state financial institutions.

"New-generation business owners are full of energy but we need to build them up to operate professionally and equip them with knowledge before they seek the funding," said Ms Yingluck.

She also emphasised that the cooperation with financial institutions would help the young entrepreneurs understand financial discipline.

The premier said applications in the field of vocational careers had received high interest, and some applicants were proposing to commercialise academic research.

"To put it simply, universities have the content, ideas and people but they lack the capital. So the government will offer support with funding while seeking banks to help with risk management," Ms Yingluck said.

The amount of funds available for each business sector will be determined by a special committee. Once the loans are approved, the authorised business incubators (ABI) at 56 universities will monitor the newly established ventures monthly. If some businesses cannot achieve their targets, the incubator will step in to provide assistance.

Ms Yingluck said that by supporting young people with professional management and academic assistance, the country is supporting the strength of SMEs which are the foundation of economic development in the future.

Ms Yingluck on Saturday also presided over the Otop City 2012 fair being held at Impact Muang Thong Thani until Dec 23. It is a decade since the One Tambon, One Product project was started by her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

She said the government was now promoting Otop Plus to upgrade established Otop businesses to SMEs.

Government figures show that Otop products from 30,000 producers will generate around 70 billion baht in trade value in 2012, and the figure is expected to reach 100 billion baht in 2015.

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