The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development has disbursed more than $163 million through two of its financial institutions under the Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) stimulus package to assist SMEs survive amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking during the Economic Panorama Covid-19 pandemic and SMEs: Assessing impact and Policy responses on Friday, Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development, director of SMEs Development, Engineer Francis Gondo said of the $179 million that was released by Treasury last year under the SMEs stimulus package, over $163 million had been disbursed to more than 14 280 beneficiaries and 188 enterprises through the Zimbabwe Women Micro-finance Bank and Small and Medium Development Corporation (SMEDCO).
“As at 31 December 2020 a total of $179 million had been released by treasury under the SMEs stimulus package and out of that it was distributed to two institutions which fall under the ministry which are the Zimbabwe Women Micro-finance Bank and SMEDCO. The Zimbabwe Women Micro Finance Bank as of 31 December 2020 had disbursed a total of just over $54 million which went to 14 280 beneficiaries which are distributed throughout the whole country. With regard to SMEDCO as at 31 December 2020 it had disbursed a total of $109 million to 188 enterprises and out of these enterprises, 44 percent of the beneficiaries were women which ensured that there was gender equality in terms of the distribution of these loans,” said Eng Gondo.
He noted that the Zimbabwe Women Micro-finance Bank out of the $54 million, just over $18 million was disbursed for asset loans, SMEs to procure equipment and other assets that they required for their businesses.
Eng Gondo added that the other $35 million was disbursed for working capital which was key because due to the lockdown most of the SMEs had to shut down business and some of them had consumed the working capital that they had.
He also highlighted that the two institutions were distributing the funds that were directed to sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, retail, transport, mining, energy, construction and property among others. Eng Gondo also said that Government was also working on assisting more than 200 000 owners and employees in the SMEs sector who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and had to close down their businesses.
“The Government when the Covid-19 pandemic took toll on the people, extended the cash transfer programme. As at 31 December 2020 the Ministry had compiled a total of 200 000 potential beneficiaries which were forwarded to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. So I understand that these cash transfers have been going on and the Treasury has continued to support this programme to ensure that at least our people can continue to put food on the table even in these challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Eng Gondo.
Eng Gondo said as part of the trainings one of the areas that they were focusing on was the adoption of digital technologies so that the SMEs could be able to adapt to the changing times and for people to be able to do business on Facebook, WhatsApp and setting up websites.
