Zimpapers Logo

Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
SMALL scale businesses in Hwange district have said they have capacity to sustain tourism supplies and appealed for support from bigger tourism industry players.

Speaking during a recent business linkages workshop organised by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, small to medium enterprises (SMEs) representatives said they have no market for their produce as the industry operators do not recognise them despite their capacity.

Big and small tourism operators require constant supply of services and products such as curio and artefacts, vegetables, fast foods, transport, honey, beef and poultry products among others.

The SMEs complained that hotels and lodges prefer to buy from big, established suppliers while some buy from outside the province or outside the country. They accused the few clients of also delaying paying for supplies.

“There are delays in payment and as a result some end up failing to continuously provide the service,” Mr Victor Sibanda of Veneto Adventures, said.

Mr Dumisani Masuku who runs hardware shops in the town said tourism players including hotels were now buying building and other materials from South Africa leaving the local suppliers with no market.

“I find this workshop helpful because it links us with hotels where we should supply products. To me it’s marketing for my hardware shops but the challenge is that of sourcing material and pricing products because the market now procures from South Africa.

“There are companies that come to sell here and that short-changes us thereby defeating whole process of business,” said Mr Masuku.

Mrs Lambani Ncube of Zambezi Art and Craft said their 113 members were finding it difficult to sell their products because some hotels and operators were now also running curio shops on their premises.

Some said big hotels demand some documents which small businesses do not have. SMEs in Matabeleland North have potential but are stifled by lack of market hence the need for businesses linkages, they said.

The workshop was meant to create a platform for local SMEs, buyers and managers from big tourism and hospitality establishments to meet and exchange notes so as to close the gap between them.

Tourism players said the workshop was an eye opener for them. They encouraged SMEs to form associations and acquire relevant documents for them to be able to negotiate with the market.

“The challenge affecting SMEs is the quality of their products and consistency in supplying the market. If they can meet those and come together to approach the market as groups, it’ll be easy to negotiate. The disadvantage is that SMEs sell to indigenous market where their profits are so limited, which is why we are saying there should be linkages between big and small players,” said Mr John Mbawa of Victoria Falls Hotel.

A representative for women in business in Matabeleland North, Mrs Mercy Mushangwe Ncube, said the biggest challenge facing SMEs was that the market prefers bigger businesses as opposed to sole traders and private business corporations who are not paid in time.

“This is a good initiative by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and a good platform to make small traders come together. We want to encourage women in business to work together too to be able to market their products,” she said – @ncubeleon