Ministry partners local authorities

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development has partnered local authorities and the private sector to identify land to be used by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), it has been learnt.

The partnership comes as most MSMEs are operating in illegal spaces.

Speaking at the MSMEs training workshop in Bulawayo last week, Moses Mhike, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development said the government was committed to helping the informal sector.

“…the Ministry is collaborating with local authorities, development partners and the private sector in the development and provision of workspaces for MSMEs under various models,” Mhike said.

He said the Ministry, in collaboration with the central has implemented a number of initiatives aimed at improving MSMEs financial inclusion.

This has seen a huge decrease of the financially excluded MSMEs from 43% in 2012 to 3% in 2022, Mhike said.

“The recently launched Collateral Registry System is expected to facilitate further easy access to credit and encourage economic activity and stimulate growth in the sector,” he said.

“The Covid pandemic which ravaged the world and induced travel restrictions laid bare the need to operate remotely and heightened the need to capacitate MSMEs to use digital platforms in conducting business.

“Digital marketing skills have become an essential skill which MSMEs need at a basic level to remain relevant, resilient, and to trade not only in the domestic market but also internationally.

Mhike said the government was implementing programmes to help boost the informal sector.

“Recognising the potential contribution of the MSME sector to the attainment of Vision 2030 of an upper middle-income economy status as underscored by the National Development Strategy, the government with support from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs prioritised the development of a results-oriented monitoring framework for timely tracking of MSMEs contribution to the economy under the Revised National MSME Policy (2020-2024),”he said.

More than 60 MSMEs from the Matabeleland region and Midlands provinces graduated after the ministry was satisfied that their businesses had grown and needed to go to the next stage.

He said the government was rolling out programmes in a bid to ensure that MSMEs are tax compliant.