Companies told to stop being crybabies

29 Mar, 2015 - 11:03 0 Views

The Sunday News

Lungile Tshuma Business Correspondent
LOCAL businesses should stop being crybabies and nagging Government over funding because a lot has already been done to support companies and it was now time industry sought innovative ways of improving production, an expert has said. Speaking during the National University of Science and Technology 6th International Conference on Manufacturing Processes, Systems and Operations Management in Victoria Falls on Wednesday, Dr Khumbulani Mhlophe who is the founder and president of Sojoma Economic Development Institute which is an economic intelligence organisation said strong entrepreneurs were needed to revive the economy.

“Zimbabwe needs strong entrepreneurs who are not crybabies. The Government has done a lot in helping businesses. We want these businesses to grow from small to become big businesses. These businesses are just crybabies who are always on the Government’s back. The Government should tell them to go and look for money,” said Dr Mhlophe.

“We have a problem with businesses in Zimbabwe who think like politicians. Politicians have an area of jurisdiction, where the Member of Parliament for Mberengwa East cannot go and dictate pace in Tsholotsho South. Businesses have no boundaries, they should look for international markets,” he said.
He, however, said Government should now channel its efforts towards supporting small to medium enterprises as they had proved to be the backbone of the economy and had the capacity to revive the country’s ailing industry.

“We need more small to medium enterprises to come forward and be involved in manufacturing. At the moment, most businesses are in non productive sectors hence they are like consumers. Businesses should take advantage of the land reform programme that gave them an edge in production of raw materials which are important in every industry,” said Dr Mhlophe.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce second vice-president Mr Davison Norupiri said small to medium enterprises were the pillars of the economy who continually needed support from the Government and industry players.

“This economy is sustained by medium enterprises. We need to support these enterprises,” Mr Norupiri told delegates at the conference.
“If we look at the dairy industry, we have the emerging medium enterprises like the Alpha and Omega and Kefalos. These medium enterprises have state of the art machinery. Why are we turning our backs on these small to medium enterprises? Surprisingly, people are concentrating on Dairibord. We should start moving forward.

“CSC used to be the giant meat supplier in the country but it’s no longer performing well. Are we not eating meat on a daily basis and where is that meat coming from? It is these small to medium enterprises. This economy is not as bad as people think.”

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