TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
Zimbabwe’s business promotional body, 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 Southern Region Manager Jacqueline Nyathi said the organisation would continue empowering SMEs in a bid to boost the export market.
“For this year, we facilitated eight SMEs to participate at ZITF. As a country, we have got a task to grow our exports. We need to continuously capacitate SMEs so that they can contribute to exports growth,” Nyati said.
She said ZimTrade is anticipating that the sponsored SMEs would be able to participate in trade fairs outside Zimbabwe.
“And what we do is we have a number of training that they benefit from to help them improve on their quality, improve on their negotiations and how they relate with potential buyers. So being at the ZITF is the first step towards taking them out into the international network. From here we anticipate that we will be able to facilitate their participation in trade fairs outside Zimbabwe and that will culminate in exports,” Nyati said.
She added: “We are impressed by the quality of the SMEs that are here and their products are different and the packaging is also quite impressive because the packaging is key you have to appeal to that consumer and we have managed to do right. We will continue to build all the capacitance we are doing over the years.”
Sibusisiwe Chitewe, the project manager for Multi Brands Private Limited trading as Dasfoods enterprise, said the opportunity they were given will help empower more women.
“This is a great opportunity we were given by ZimTrade to come and showcase our products with the hope that some women will be able to get inspired. As we are doing business we have a hope that they get empowered.
“Our products are organic and market-oriented. Our food processing, manufacturing, and packaging are done in Zimbabwe and Zambia. We hope that our products will be exported more to other countries. We hope it will help us build our business.”
Lienne Shoniwa the head of operations for Manetain Organics said she hopes to spread wings in the coming years.
“As women, we have different kinds of problems. I came up with this initiative to bring solutions to hair problems, especially for naturalists.
“This has been a great journey for me. The training we went through helped me a lot. I am grateful for the opportunity to come with my products here and hopefully at next year’s exhibition I will be able to do it on my own and spread my wings,” she said.
