ZIMBABWE’S small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have become the key economic drivers due to the shrinking formal sector, Small and Medium Enterprises minister Sithembiso Nyoni has said.
MTHANDAZO NYONI Own Correspondent
Addressing delegates at the Brethren In Christ Church business workshop on Saturday, Nyoni urged youths and women to take part in growing small businesses.
“According to the World Bank, 5,7 million people are being employed by small-to-medium enterprises,” she said.
“Therefore, I would like to urge parents to teach their children to venture into small businesses for a living. Zimbabwe is being driven by SMEs.”
She said her ministry was making funds for SMEs available through CBZ Bank. Nyoni said at the moment the bank was offering a $5 million loan facility.
Zimbabwe’s economy is in deep distress and most companies have closed down, forcing millions of people into the informal sector.
Nyoni castigated Bulawayo people for blaming Harare and the government for the collapse of industries.
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She said youths should wake up and grab all the opportunities the government was creating through ZimAsset.
“I’m ready to mentor you young people so start dreaming,” she said. “What is your dream? You must see yourself as a business person.
“If you don’t dream, you deserve not to sleep. Bulawayo is yours, but you always want Harare people to come and give you businesses. That will never happen.”
A FinScope SME survey carried out in the last quarter of 2012, indicated that 2,8 million people in the informal sector were business owners.
However, the body noted that Zimbabwe’s SMEs are facing several challenges which include poor technological capacity to keep pace with the dynamics of local and international trade, intensified competition in domestic, regional and global markets, a rapidly shrinking domestic market and limited participation in global value chains.
