Chronicle Editor
Kiyapili Sibanda, Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Applied Art and Craft Association (ZAACA) says its members have started accessing loans under the Government’s $90 million facility for small to medium businesses.
ZAACA chairperson, Mr John Custom, said the RBZ has approached handicrafters to take advantage of the loan facility and urged their members to apply.
“The RBZ has availed a loan facility of $90 million and they are calling upon arts and crafters to take advantage of this loan facility. We have started sending some of our members,” he said in an interview in Bulawayo on Friday.
The Government launched the $90 million funding package in may this year to capacitate upcoming businesses across all sectors and help formalise their operations to ensure they contribute to the mainstream economy.
Mr Custom said his organisation was assisting its members with project proposal writing after the central bank insisted that applicants must send authentic members for verification purposes.
He said some of its members have already accessed the loans and were happy about the support.
“The crafters are still accessing money as we speak and so far we have got three members who have accessed some funding and some of our members are doing proposals and in no time they will be accessing it. We are also happy about the developments because this means they will be able to do good business,” said Mr Custom.
He said the loan facility would help them with start-up capital and support to market their products during key exhibitions and trade fairs.
“Before the coming of the loan facility we were failing to get technical assistance from various organisations because the crafts for a long time lacked visibility but now we are on the right track to access the right markets,” said Mr Custom. — @Kiyaz_Cool
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter