Bangladesh INSPIRED (Integrated Support to Poverty and Inequality Reduction through Enterprise Development) Program aims to reduce poverty by supporting the development of SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) in the country. The project also endeavors to enhanced competitiveness and sustainable pro-poor growth of SMEs in selected sub-sectors of the economy. This project is funded by the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the European Union (EU). It is managed by the SME Cell of the Ministry of Industries. The SME Foundation, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Bank Training Academy (BBTA) and Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) are other stakeholders.

The Programme objectives are to:

• Deliver a multi-sector  and inter-ministerial national strategy and action plan for SME development, which addresses all aspects of SME support including improving the business environment in line with accepted international best practices;
• Strengthen national capacity to plan and implement SME development;
• Establish effective SME networking mechanisms aimed at sharing best practices;
• Provide a SME Competitiveness Grant Scheme of €6.5m to Business Intermediary Organisations (BIOs) such as Chambers Of Commerce and Industry or cluster associations to work with groups of SMEs to improve their competitiveness in the following sectors: agro-processing, natural fibres, leather, plastics, light engineering, electronics, furniture and textiles;
• Support clusters by using value chain development initiatives that seek to increase SME competitiveness in agreed sectors and provide capacity building to BIOs in lobbying, advocacy, networking, public-private sector dialogue and the provision of business development services (BDS) to their members; and
• Support Bangladesh Bank training institutions by setting up training courses on providing appropriate banking services to SMEs.

The SME Competitiveness Grant Scheme of the programme envisions to:

• Generate an adequate number of high quality grant applications under the Cluster Support and BIOs Support element of the SME Competitiveness Grant Scheme, through which the competitiveness of Bangladeshi firms and clusters would be improved by working on value chaining and new business feasibility studies;

• Train staff of the Ministry of Industries SME Cell (contracting authority) in all aspects of EU procurement, especially in grant scheme management;
• Establish  systems within the Ministry of Industries SME Cell  for the financial and management control of the INSPIRED Programme incorporating an effective monitoring, reporting and financial reporting/control system
• Support to the EU Delegation with all aspects of payments relating to the INSPIRED Programme; and successful implementation of the INSPIRED Programme. 

• Develop and deliver effective and self-sustaining training programmes on SME financing (innovative products and "product bundles"; risk adjusted pricing; modern credit scoring systems; credit information systems; risk limit system; regulatory simplification of collateral requirements; etc.);
• Improve awareness of policymakers and regulators of the special needs of SME financing and how best to serve these needs;
• Address environmental and social compliance issues.