Women, transgender persons benefiting alike from Kamyab Jawan loan scheme 

LAHORE:People across the gender spectrum; men, women and transgender persons, are benefitting from Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan (Youth Entrepreneurship) Scheme launched in October 2019.

Tehzeeb, a female resident of Kot Ghulam Rasool village in Nankana Sahib district, applied for Kamyab Jawan Scheme loan to scale up her dairy business. “Though our dairy business was doing fine, it was operating at a small scale and we wanted to grow it. We got to know about the loan scheme through our relatives and decided to apply,” she said.

The entrepreneur, who had applied for the loan at Bank of Punjab, continued: “Anyone who wants to start a new business, or those who are operating at a small scale and want to grow, should apply for the loan. We benefited from it and others will too.”

She thanked the Bank of Punjab and the prime minister for introducing the scheme.

Meanwhile, Zeeshan Sohail, a non-binary person and a resident of Lahore’s Johar Town area, said that he got to know about PM’s Kamyab Jawan scheme in December 2019 and also applied for a loan of Rs500,000 through Bank of Punjab. 

Zeeshan, who sells furniture online, said that while considering applying for the loan, he was worried about any gender-based discrimination in the loan process, as well as any requirement of a personal reference to get the loan approved. “But thankfully, the process of obtaining the loan was completed without any hassle and I received the loan in six months.”

Thanking the PM and BoP, he encouraged youngsters who are running their businesses and need a loan to apply for the scheme. 

Kamyab Jawan provides subsidised loans to men, women and transgenders belonging to different professions be it farmers, shopkeepers or IT professionals. The loan programme is ensuring social development by empowering youth, providing business growth and employment opportunities.  

BoP is currently providing loans under the scheme to men, women and transgenders of age between 21 to 45 years. For information technology (IT)/e-commerce-related businesses, the lower age limit is 18 years along with a requirement of minimum matric or equivalent education.

The size of the loan available is segmented into three tiers. Tier 1 loans range from Rs0.1mn to 1mn, Tier 2 loans range from above Rs1mn to Rs10mn, whereas Tier 3 loans range from above Rs10 million up to Rs25 million.