Govt ups preps for SMEs incubation centre

30 Aug, 2015 - 04:08 0 Views
Govt ups preps for SMEs incubation centre

The Sunday News

Shepias Dube  Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT has raised about $100 000 which will be channelled towards the refurbishment of a property in Harare that will be turned into an Incubation Centre for Small to Medium Enterprises, a Cabinet Minister has said. Small to Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development Minister Cde Sithembiso Nyoni said part of the funds to refurbish a property that was identified in Harare had been raised. More than $200 000 is needed to renovate the infrastructure to accommodate 27 business disciplines, which mainly fall under food processing, garment making, metal fabrication and catering.

“My ministry in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing is currently working on logistics to start the refurbishment of the building given to us so that it will be easy to accommodate the machinery for the incubation centre. More than half of the money required is now available and work is expected to start soon,” Min Nyoni said. The Department of Public Works is consulting SMEs involved in construction to partner it in the refurbishment exercise. The Incubation Centre will be used for the training of SMEs drawn from all the country’s 10 provinces.

“As the ministry we are also engaging the Indian government to provide the SMEs with the machinery after training so that they will be able to put the knowledge gained into practice,” she said.  In his mid-term budget announcement, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Patrick Chinamasa said Government had since received machinery worth $449 637 from India for the Incubation Centre. The machinery comprises manufacturing, packaging, processing, and moulding equipment, among others.

The construction of the Incubation Centre resonates well with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation’s thrust of strengthening SMEs to facilitate economic empowerment and poverty eradication. The president of the Chamber of SMEs, Mr Shakemore Museve said players in the sector welcomed Government’s effort to capacitate upcoming entrepreneurs with requisite skills to enhance their business entities. “Most SMEs lack adequate information and skill on what they are doing and the opening of an incubation centre would go a long way in addressing this anomaly,” he said

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