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Sithandazile Moyo Business Reporter
PREPARATIONS for the second SME Banking and Micro-finance Summit have begun, an official has said. The summit is scheduled for March 24-25 at the Rainbow Towers in Harare.In a statement, the managing director of the organisers Deat Capital, Nicky Moyo said they had started preparations for this year’s event which will take two days following the success of the inaugural event in 2013.
“We have already started the preparations for the event and this year’s event will take two days following the success of our inaugural event in July 2013 which attracted over 170 delegates,” he said.
Moyo said this year’s summit would be held in collaboration with the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives Development.
“The summit will be hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives Development, government of Zimbabwe and a host of leading local private sector organisations,” he said.
Moyo said this year’s summit would focus on the development of Micro Small to Medium Enterprises and address topics such as trade finance for SMEs among others.
“There would be sideline masters class workshops focused on development of Zimbabwe MSMEs with topics such as such as Trade finance for SMEs, Inclusive Business and Value Chain Financing, Marketing and Brand management for MSMEs, Business and Strategic planning for MSMEs, Fundraising for Microfinance Institutions,” said Moyo.
He said summit aimed at providing a platform for financial institutions to engage and share ideas on how to take up available opportunities in the sector. “This unique event aims to present different experiences of financial institutions to successfully scale up financing for SMEs, highlighting opportunities for further growth in this segment,” he said.
He said the unmet demand for financial service was creating many opportunities for financial institutions.
“The unmet demand for financial services is creating opportunities for financial institutions to expand their market share and increase profits. In Africa and Zimbabwe in particular, as in many other developing and transition economies, SMEs employ the largest share of workers,” said Moyo.
This year’s forum is expected to attract around 250 delegates.
Bongani Ndlovu