INDUSTRY and Commerce Deputy Minister, Raj Modi, has urged small to medium enterprises in Bulawayo to utilise available Government funding facilities to grow their businesses and formalise operations to position themselves for winning lucrative tenders.
He commended the increasing viability of several SMEs in the city, which are filling the production and supply gap created by the closure of some of the biggest companies in recent years, saying this was in line with the country’s drive to transform the economy.
Under the National Development Strategy (NDS1), the Government expects SMEs to contribute immensely to the economy and has outlined a number of policy support interventions, including financing mechanisms to capacitate budding entrepreneurs.
The interventions tie closely with the formalisation strategy in which small businesses are expected to also contribute to the fiscus through taxation.
SMEs in Bulawayo are distinguishing themselves through quality products in different sectors covering textile and clothing, engineering, food processing, art and craft, among others.
In an interview, Deputy Minister Modi said the Government was impressed with strides made by SMEs hence it has devised measures to buttress their growth.
“We promote the growth of small and medium enterprises and the Government has supported that,” he said.
“Government has put some money aside for retooling and SMEs just need to come forward so that they can be assisted.
The growth of the SME sector is critical in the country’s drive to expand job creation, substituting imports and beefing up export volumes.
This is why in 2020 President Mnangagwa launched the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Policy (2020-2024), which seeks to ensure that all businesses play part in the national development agenda for the country to realise an upper middle-income status by 2030.
To show support for the sector, the 2023 National Budget saw the allocation of $3 billion to the SMEs through Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation (SMEDCO).
A framework has already been created for SMEs to access funding through venture capital windows and facilities available under the Women Micro-Finance Bank, Empower Bank, Women Development Fund, as well as the Community Development Fund.
As such, Deputy Minister Modi said for SMEs to be able to supply bigger markets on a tender basis they need to be formalised and collaborate to achieve higher capacity.
“Formalisation is easy and can be done by every individual. SMEs need to increase their capacity so that they can be able to win big tenders,” he said.
According to the 2023 National budget statement, the Government has committed to scaling up the formalisation of SMEs.
“Statistics indicate that the larger the enterprise, the less likely it will be informal, implying that supporting small business to graduate to higher levels of SMEs is one way of promoting formalisation and addressing informality,” reads part of the 2023 National Budget statement. –
