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Herald Reporters
Small and medium enterprises can reduce the country’s huge import bill if they are adequately funded and supported, a Cabinet minister has said. Speaking during a tour of micro-enterprises in Chitungwiza on Tuesday, Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni said while small businesses played a critical role in sustaining lives, they had the potential to help the country reduce imports.
“My ministry’s mandate is to ensure the growth of SMEs so that the country may stop importing goods from other countries,” she said.
“We do not want goods from other countries to flood our supermarkets. We do not want any supermarkets to import peanut butter anymore because you can produce it here.
“We need you to produce enough products so that you can grow and develop into fully fledged corporates.”
Minister Nyoni urged other SMEs to emulate Peelchart Investments — a company which had transformed itself from a micro-enterprise into a company able to produce 3 000 bottles of peanut butter a day.
“It is possible for you to grow from an informal and small to medium project into a corporate,” she said.
Minister Nyoni urged SMEs involved in peanut butter production to form clusters so they could access loans from local finance institutions to support their growth.
Zimbabwe is spending millions of dollars importing food items such as peanut butter, cooking oil and other products which it could produce own its own.
Online Reporter