Government to construct factory shells for SMEs

Nqobile Bhebhe, Senior Business Reporter

THE Government is working on an elaborate plan of renovating and constructing modern factory shells for Micro, Small to Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in selected areas with four earmarked for Gweru.
The collaborative programme involves local authorities, private sector players, and development partners and aims at providing comfortable and smart workspaces for MSMEs so that they contribute meaningfully to economic development.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa, told journalists in a post Cabinet media briefing last Tuesday that four MSMEs factory shells would be set up in Mtapa suburb in Gweru.

“With regard to the provision of workspaces for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), a whole-of-Government approach, which involves Government, local authorities, the private sector, and development partners has been adopted. These are collaborating on renovating existing spaces and putting up new modern workspaces.

In Gweru, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprises Development is working with Gweru City Council in the construction of four MSMEs factory shells in Mtapa suburb,” she said.
In Chirundu, Sen Mutsvangwa said the Ministry of Women Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprises Development was being supported by Comesa in constructing a traders’ market under the Small-Scale Cross Border Initiative.

“The Chirundu Traders’ Market Workspace, which is estimated to cost Euro 896 206 will accommodate 250 traders when complete. Cabinet noted the progress and directed that the programme on the provision of workspaces be supported countrywide as it resonates well with President Mnangagwa’s instructive pronouncement of ‘leaving no-one and no place behind’,” she said.
In Mutare, the minister said the Molus SMEs Mall was constructed at a cost of US$800 000 and completed in November 2022.

On the other hand, the Manhenga Co-operative in Bindura constructed two blocks, which accommodate different enterprises while the Chiredzi District SMEs Chamber is constructing an SME Centre at a cost US$600 000.
In January, the Minister of Women Affairs, Dr Sithembiso Nyoni, said the Government was working on building a state-of-the-art SMEs Centre in Bulawayo to decongest areas that some entrepreneurs were operating from.

She said as soon as the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) avails land to build the facility, construction work would start. The minister said this during a tour of the Mpopoma Outspan Association-operated informal traders complex popularly known as eSpamprekini that was gutted by fire. Top-of-the-range sofas, wardrobes, kitchen units, tables, tombstones and wooden doors made to customer’s specifications were reduced to ashes.