Govt engages local authorities on land for SMEs

19 Oct, 2014 - 00:10 0 Views
Govt engages local authorities on land for SMEs

The Sunday News

THE Government is engaging local authorities to avail land for the construction of up-market infrastructure for emerging businesses to operate from.
Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operatives Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni said her ministry had managed to formalise more than 500 SMEs through the provision of proper space availed by councils.

“We have managed to graduate more than 500 SMEs from operating informal to formal and the programme is still on-going as we seek to grow these small businesses into large corporates,” she said.

Minister Nyoni said the ministry was now focusing on providing SMEs with proper infrastructure to operate from in a bid to ensure that the products they manufacture are competitive as well as reduce issues of safety and occupational hazards.

“At the moment we are in the process of ensuring that SMEs are provided with up-market infrastructure to operate from in the form of factory shells, office space and incubators. We intend to move those (SMEs) from the ‘streets’ to designated areas.

“As such we are engaging local authorities to provide land for this purpose and so far Harare City Council has identified eight places and we are in the process of approaching other local authorities starting with the Bulawayo City Council,” she said.

Last week Minister Nyoni held a meeting with SMEs in Harare, officials from council, construction companies and architects to discuss the way forward pertaining to the building of the factories.

The Small to Medium Enterprises Association of Zimbabwe (SMEAZ) said it was engaging stakeholders to ensure the provision of world-class infrastructure to SMEs.

“To this end, we are actively engaged with relevant stakeholders to ensure that such infrastructure becomes available. Examples of the infrastructure we are looking to get constructed include factory shells, office space and incubators.

“Apart from housing SMEs’ business, issues such as the power situation, water and sanitation and the transport network are of concern to SMEs, as their being dysfunctional increases the cost of doing business,” read part of a statement from the SMEAZ website.

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