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Sikhulekelani Moyo, [email protected]

AROUND 120 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bulawayo have received training on Sustainability and Resilient Enterprises (SURE) development. 

This programme, run by the Bulawayo Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises and supported by the International Labour Organisation, aims to equip SMEs to prepare for, respond to, and recover from crises and business shocks. 

Topics covered include resilient management, crisis leadership, hazard identification and business ecosystems. The training will continue to accommodate more players, as failure rates among SMEs in Zimbabwe remain high.

In an interview on the sidelines of the graduation event for 40 SMEs, Bulawayo Chamber of SMEs programmes coordinator, Mr Nketa Mangoye Dlamini, said the programme trained the business players in managing, identification and mitigation of risk.

USD: Image taken from Shutterstock

“Today people who are graduating are about 40 and these are the ones who managed to submit well written business resilience strategies. So, it’s not everybody who is graduating, but people who managed to complete the five-day course then submitted their strategies for the companies to say they are in a position to identify, manage and mitigate risk and they can set up plans on how to manage risks in their workplace,” he said.

“Basically, this programme was driven by a situation where there were a lot of fires and disasters within workplaces.

“So, with the support of ILO, this course was run and this is the first cohort in Bulawayo, but the course was done throughout the country.”

Mr Dlamini said the training will continue to enable them to accommodate more players. 

He said as SMEs start their business, there is a need to guard against failure, which happens at an early stage between the first and third year. 

According to official data, the failure rate for SMEs has seen one out of four SMEs failing within the first year, which has been described as bad in terms of SMEs growth.

Last year a lot of fire disasters happened around Bulawayo where SMEs in different sectors lost a lot of wares.

The major ones being the Espamprekini in Mpopoma where hundreds of small-scale formal traders lost furniture and equipment worth millions of dollars, and the Mutize flea market where more than 200 SMEs lost their stock.