SME Foundation will launch the second edition of its National SME Business Plan Competition this month to find out new and potential business plans and create new entrepreneurs and generate new sectors.

The state-run agency, which promotes small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs across the country, will officially inaugurate the contest on September 25, said officials yesterday.

Interested entrepreneurs will be able to download applications from the foundation's website— www.smef.org.bd—or collect it from its office in Karwan Bazar in the capital between September 25 and December 31 this year.

Entrepreneurs can apply individually or in a group with not more than four members, the foundation said.

Initially, about 150 applicants will be selected for a daylong training on the process and rules for preparing a business plan.

After the initial screening, participants will get about a month to prepare and submit their business plans at the SME Foundation office. From them, three individual entrepreneurs or groups with best ideas will be picked for the top three awards.

A jury board will choose the three final winners, who will getTk 5 lakh, Tk 4 lakh and Tk 3 lakh as prize money. In the inaugural edition last year, a team of two students—Samia Sharif and Mahmudul Islam Tapu—from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology won the top prize for their ideas to produce sodium silicate from rice bran.