peter
Sikhulekelani Moyo, Business Reporter
THE informal sector should embrace digital business modelling to enlarge their markets and ensure business continuity amid the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown constraints, the Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) has said.
Travel adoption of travel restrictions among other lockdown measures aimed at mitigating the spread of the pandemic have negatively affected small-scale businesses across the globe.
In Zimbabwe, where the informal sector is thriving, the operators have raised concern over limits to cross-border trading with vendors complaining over lack of adequate working spaces and access to capital financing.
In an interview, BVTA executive director Mr Michael Ndiweni said Covid-19 was here to stay and urged informal traders to adopt digital strategies to remain afloat.
He said instead of seeking to travel abroad, for instance, they could procure their goods using online platforms and have these delivered to their destinations. The same applies when they want to export and market their products using online means, said Mr Ndiweni.
“Our resolution for 2022 is to promote e-commerce so that our members will not go to China, Dubai and other parts of the world to buy or sell their products,” he said.
“But rather, they should sell and buy online as we see that Covid-19 is here to stay and no one knows when the borders are going to be opened.”
Mr Ndiweni said the Government should help the informal sector through finding ways to reduce production costs so as to promote consumption of local goods.
“People chose to buy goods from outside the country because local goods are expensive due to high production costs. Therefore, as an association, we are calling for the Government to help the informal sector through finding ways to reduce production costs so that the goods we produce can become affordable and promote economic growth through exports and consumption of local goods,” said Mr Ndiweni.
The Government is also working on formalising the informal sector and Mr Ndiweni has urged their members to play ball and grab the opportunity to formalise their businesses and contribute more to the national economy.
“I urge our members to formalise their businesses so that we have access to medical aid, pension and social security,” he said.
The need to adopt digital business means of doing business is at the heart of the country drive towards building a “smart-economy” by 2030, which dovetails with the Government’s upper middle-income economy vision by the same year.
According to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), in its end of year report, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the importance of ICTs in all aspects of life and these have kept societies and economies functional to some extent sustainable.
The regulator has also called upon the Government and the private sector to intervene in developing and improving the digital landscape.
“The pandemic has exposed access gaps in the country, demonstrating an urgent need to bridge the digital divide,” it said.
“This can be achieved through Government intervention and innovative public-private partnerships aimed at improving the digital landscape by assuring access, equity and affordability of telecommunication services to all.” – @SikhulekelaniM1.
Online Reporter