The Sunday News
Chrispen Gumunyu, Business Reporter
WOMEN Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Dr Sithembiso Nyoni has said cottage industries can play a pivotal role in the provision of affordable products to the retail industry.
In an interview with Sunday News Business on the sidelines of an exhibition organised by Food Value Addition in Bulawayo last Friday, Dr Nyoni said the Government was making concerted efforts to ensure that goods manufactured from cottage industries find their way into the formal market as it pushes to avert artificial shortages and curbing imports.
“The cottage industry will play an important role in providing affordable products because most retail shops acceded that home made products are now in demand due to their low prices and at times their quality is better than imported goods.
“I’m very impressed with what these cottage industry founders most of which are women are doing thus the reason we continuously link them to supermarkets.
“Our intention though is to encourage them to grow and start their own shops to sell their own products,” she said.
A cottage industry refers to a small-scale, decentralised manufacturing business that is usually operated out of a home instead of a purpose-built facility.
“Cottage industry founders should also thrive to grow to become factory-based manufacturers. I have seen quite a lot of women expanding their operations from backyards to factories,” said Dr Nyoni.
One of Bulawayo’s leading indigenous-owned retail chains, Oceans Foods chief executive officer Mr Wesley Ncube said cottage industry players could play a big role in the supply chain if rendered adequate support.
“Oceans Foods has over the years offered cottage industry players, most of whom are women, with shelf space at our shops. We are actually impressed on how they have managed to tremendously improve their packaging to match international standards. A cottage industry is an SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) at its early stage because most SMEs started at project level. If the retail industry can support these women in a few years to come they will be a force to reckon with in terms of the supply chain of products into our supermarkets,” he said.
Food Value Addition founder and chairperson, Mrs Nomsa Sobantu said there was a need for retail outlets to support cottage industries through acceptance of their products so as to keep their enterprises.
“The cottage industry needs to be assisted because we are producing goods that are almost the same with those being imported in terms of quality but are relatively cheaper and the Women’s Bank is assisting us so that our prices remain affordable. It is women who are mostly affected by price increases so we want to be the ones to provide a solution to the problem of price increases,” she said.
Food Value Addition is an organisation that seeks to empower women involved in the cottage industry.
@chrispen_gee
