The Sunday News
Shepias Dube Business Reporter
THE Small Enterprises Development Corporation has been operating without budget support for the last two years crippling efforts to provide funding for the growing number of small and medium businesses.
In an interview on Thursday Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Deputy Minister Cde Noveti Muponora said Sedco was sitting on thousands of business proposals from prospective businesses but was failing to provide the funding.
“Sedco used to get financial support from Government in the form of grants but since the 2013-2014 financial year, treasury has not been releasing any money to the parastatal,” Mr Muponora said.
Sedco is a leading development finance institution created by the Government to promote development of micro, small and medium enterprises in the country.
However, since the beginning of this year the institution has not managed to fund any projects and it is not yet clear when the $3m loan facility from the Arab Bank for Development in Africa (BADEA) which was reported to be channelled through Sedco will will be availed. Cde Muponora said financial constraints have also forced the parastatal to reduce its working week to avoid retrenchment.
A senior officer at Sedco who preferred to remain anonymous for professional reasons said workers have gone for more than six months without salary. He however, said there were no plans yet to retrench workers as has been the case with other financially beleaguered companies.
Efforts to get a comment from the general manager Mrs Gladys Kanyonga were fruitless as she was reportedly attending a board meeting.
Meanwhile an official in the chamber of SMEs has accused Sedco of demanding application fees for loans that do not exist.
“They take our money purporting to be application fees yet they will be aware that they do not have the money to finance our businesses,” fumed Mrs Tryphine Munemo who operates commuter omnibuses in Bulawayo.
