African Ministers tour Byo SMEs

25 Jun, 2017 - 02:06 0 Views

The Sunday News

Robin Muchetu
AFRICAN Ministers of Small to Medium Enterprises who were in Bulawayo for the just ended Co-ordination Committee for Development and Promotion for African Handicrafts (Codepa), yesterday toured various businesses in the city and are optimistic about the recovery of Bulawayo industries.

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Cde Sithembiso Nyoni said the tour was to ensure her counterparts familiarise with the operations of some of the SMES in the country.

“I was showing ministers from South Africa, Niger and the Central African Republic some of the SMEs and the crafts. We went to Jairos Jiri Association and we also visited two SMEs that are in manufacturing. It was a tour to help them get an appreciation of the skills that we have locally,” she said.

Minister Nyoni said one of the small places they visited was an inspiration.

“The lady is doing a good job but has limited space. The other one has roped in retrenched workers from other companies and upgraded them to making clothes and she made t-shirts for Codepa and they were of international standards,” she said.

She however, noted that all SMEs that have been manufacturing in the city needed to graduate to medium and large enterprises.

“We don’t want them to be isolated when Bulawayo revives. Some of these same women took retrenched workers and upgraded them and started small factories so we need to support that rather than to allow it to be destroyed,” she said.

South African Minister for Small Business Development Ms Lindiwe Zulu told Sunday News that small companies had indeed taken over.

“It is about seeing big companies closing down and small companies taking over, that is what I have seen in Bulawayo. We found them making uniforms, protective clothing etc. These were things that were done by big industries before. Many of which closed down,” she said.

Ms Zulu concurred with Cde Nyoni that small businesses needed to be graduated into medium and large enterprises because they were sacrificing a lot.

“What I liked was the fact that there is a woman that we visited who started from a garage at home and she now operates with about 20 workers and she never said she wants the Government to buy her machines, she said she has made enough money to purchase a large embroidery machine but she has space constraints as the company is growing bigger each day,” said Ms Zulu.

“When these SMEs are not paid on time it becomes a problem, they have salaries to pay, and they need to pay rent for their workspaces and also to buy raw materials for their business. It’s clear for us as Government that we have to pay on time if we buy these products,” added Ms Zulu.

Ms Zulu said it was also interesting that those that were now making school uniforms were indigenous people, something which was a preserve of white-owned companies in the past. She said as Codepa ministers they need to encourage access to markets for the small business.

One SME from Bulawayo, Mrs Angela Mpofu of A and S Fashions whose shop was visited by the ministers said she was optimistic about the business contacts she had made after exhibiting at Codepa.

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