Government urges SMEs to prioritise MSMEs policy

22 Dec, 2020 - 13:12 0 Views
Government urges SMEs to prioritise MSMEs policy Dr Sithembiso Nyoni

The Sunday News

Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter

THE Government has urged small and medium scale enterprises to prioritise the MSMEs Policy 2020-2024  recently launched by President Mnangagwa to motivate them to grow towards the attainment of an upper middle-income economy by 2030.

Women Affairs, Community and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Dr Sithembiso Nyoni said in an interview that the policy was meant to motivate MSMEs to achieve the envisioned targets for the country urging them not to be left out.

“As we move towards 2021 our emphasis is on growth and the policy launched by President Mnangagwa in Gweru. If MSMEs are to participate in vision 2030 of an upper middle-income economy they have to graduate from micro to small, small to medium and from medium to large enterprises,” said Dr Nyoni.

She added that the policy was key as it aimed to enhance production, productivity, competitiveness and profitability of MSMEs. Also, she said it would ensure MSMEs and other marginalised groups are included in the national development agenda.

Dr Nyoni noted that her Ministry will continue training MSMEs, supporting their initiatives and making sure they register with the Zimbabwe Standard Association for them to produce quality products and services.

She added: “MSMEs are really resilient and despite the Covid-19 pandemic most of them continued to work hard from home. A lot of these have also benefited from the Government cushioning package.”

Bulawayo Chamber of SMEs chairman Mr Energy Majazi commended the graduation and policy recently launched stating that it will go a long way in assisting SMEs.

“SMEs graduating from one level to the other is motivation to those that remained working and those that managed to grow that they can do it. The launched MSMEs policy has a lot of things which if implemented we foresee SMEs growth rising exceptionally,” said Mr Majazi.

He also noted that more SMEs were applying for the Government cushioning package so that they get financial support in the form of working capital for retooling based on the fact that a number of them have antiquated machinery that works against economies of scale.

Mr Majazi said of the total 2 600 registered SMEs in their database, an additional 600 have also applied for the cushioning package from Government, bringing the total to 1 800 with 1 200 having applied sometime in April.

“When l last checked from the 1 800 those who had received the Netone lines were about 400. Some have not yet said if they managed to get the cushioning packaging as yet or not. Most of them are yet to confirm,” he added.

Moreover, Mr Majazi however noted that SMEs were facing various challenges with close to 45 percent of them shutting down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, about 5 to 10 percent operating on and off and the remainder being those that are trying to remain afloat or currently coming on board and starting their own businesses. Most of these, he said are living on hand to mouth.

He also said they were working hand in gloves with local authorities and development partners to assist SMEs acquire working infrastructure and places.

He added: “We are working with NUST for research and development. Also, with ILO to try and facilitate capacity building among SMEs and the leadership, and in that regard, l think we’re going to progress very well.”

The MSMEs sector contributes over 60 percent to the Gross Domestic Product and employs more than 75 percent of the country’s total workforce. In the 2021 National Budget an allocation of $1billion was set for the MSMEs so that they are empowered to grow their businesses

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