Ministry comes up with programme to assist SMEs

Kiyapili Sibanda, Business Reporter
THE Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development has come up with a programme to assist small businesses with a bias on value addition and beneficiation.

SMEs Minister, Sithembiso Nyoni, said the “Zimbabwe Programme for Enterprise Development (ZimPED)” initiative was meant to bolster economic growth through value added domestic products. She said ZimPED would be rolled out this week and implored entrepreneurs to craft strategies towards value addition. The programme has since been approved by Cabinet, said the minister.

“We have a new programme called ZimPED that is mostly targeting rural SMEs to help them venture into value addition. The programme was approved by the Cabinet last week and if our Indian counterparts are available the programme will be launched next week,” said Minister Nyoni in an interview last week.

“This is also our roadmap for 2018 and if everything goes well we will be in rural areas helping SMEs in terms of value addition in dry vegetables, tomato canning, manufacturing of cooking oil, fruit juice manufacturing and many others.”

Recent surveys have revealed that of the 44 percent of Zimbabwean SMEs who are engaged in trade, only nine percent are focused on beneficiation.

Minister Nyoni said machinery for incubation centres was already in the country and people should come forward to learn on how to produce value added products.

“The machinery meant for the incubation centres is already there. We are calling forward for SMEs to come and learn on how to produce and this will help them on value addition,” she said.

Among the sectors with opportunities for value addition are; clothing, textiles, food processing, agriculture equipment manufacturing and mineral processing. Government has been calling for the formalisation of SMEs so that they also contribute to the national coffers amid reports that about $6 billion is circulating in the informal market.

Statistics from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe indicate that SMEs were contributing above 60 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. In September this year Government mobilised $7.6 million loan facility under the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development to be disbursed through the Savings and Credit Co-Cooperatives. The fund also supports projects related to the setting up of entrepreneurial training institutes. — -@Kiyaz_Cool