ZimTrade sponsors SMEs

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

Trade development and promotion organisation, ZimTrade, sponsored eight Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to participate at the  recent Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) as part of their employment drive.

ZimTrade CEO, Allan Majuru, who said  his organisation would continue empowering SMEs in a bid to boost the export market.

“The whole idea of us coming to  the ZITF is to make sure that we expose our SMEs. We run a number of training programmes to capacity our SMEs to be able to participate at any international trade fairs and use ZITF as that platform.

We also use it as a platform to enhance the branding of ZimTrade so that people know and understand our services and we can also do outreach to our clients and potential clients, “he said.

Majuru said the idea was for them to be able to get a better appreciation of how to participate at a trade fair.

“Some of them are in the furniture sector, food sector, leather sector. The whole idea is for them to be able to get a better appreciation of how to participate at a trade fair. After this we will then take these SMEs to trade fairs in Dubai and the United Kingdom, among others so this is a good platform for us to train them,” he said.

Majuru said the exhibition gives them a platform to interact with more people.

“But also the  issue is about them having an appreciation of negotiating skills.

“You can be good at doing your business. But if you don’t know how to negotiate your prices its also equally bad to a business so we also train that.

“ And even how you perform around the stand at an exhibition and how you interact with clients it’s quite key. But also for them it’s a learning exercise. Sometimes these SMEs think they have done it but if they come here they will see better ways of branding, packaging them so it’s also a training ground for them,” Majuru said.