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Sikhulekelani Moyo, Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT has said capacitating small to medium enterprises (SMEs) is critical in supporting the re-industrialisation of Bulawayo and the growth of the country’s manufacturing sector, which would assist the country to trim on imports.

As Zimbabwe journeys towards attainment of an upper-middle income economy by 2030, harnessing opportunities offered by the SMEs sector would steer the industrialisation momentum, with a focus on value addition  and beneficiation as enunciated in the country’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).

The SMEs sector has recently become the biggest employer with indigenous entrepreneurs operating in diverse sectors such as horticulture, leather production, shoe and garment making, engineering, tourism and mining, among others.

Women Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister, Dr Sithembiso Nyoni, who was in Bulawayo on Friday, said SMEs constitute between 80 to 90 percent of the country’s economy and their role was significant in driving industry growth.

It is for this reason that the Government is working towards formalisation of SMEs to buttress the sector’s growth and contribution to mainstream economy.

“As a ministry we need to develop SME centres where people manufacture and grow the industry, market and have services at the same time,” said Dr Nyoni.

“We don’t want to be importing second hand clothes and others as we have SMEs that are making beautiful clothes and those should be supported to fill our markets.

“I want to instil in Zimbabweans that we have very skilled people who can make good products for us and why should we import second hand clothes rather than buying locally?”

Dr Nyoni’s sentiments come as a time when Zimbabwe is heavily dependent on finished imports following the demise of local industry in recent years. The Second Republic is, however, focused on scaling up local production with latest capacity utilisation statistics showing a manufacturing sector on rebound.

Already, local manufacturers have raised concern over the influx of cheap second-hand clothing, which is adversely affecting the viability of the cotton to clothing and textile industry value chain.

Meanwhile, Dr Nyoni said the ministry was moving swiftly to foster formalisation of the informal sector, which will help unregistered businesses to grow, adopt quality standards and increases chances of accessing financing from banks.

She said the Government was determined to make sure that SMEs access knowledge from organisations like Standard Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ), ZimTrade and Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe to make sure that products produced by SMEs are worth to be in shops and also for export market.

Dr Nyoni said several entrepreneurs operating from home including women would be assisted to access proper working spaces and linked to formal markets.

“We don’t want them to sell their products from homes, we want them to have bar codes so that they can take their products to shops after SAZ has certified them,” she said.

Dr Nyoni visited Trenance suburb in Bulawayo where she met women who produce detergents and need support to grow the business. She also visited Emganwini suburb where she toured a pre-school project whose owners want to upgrade it to a full-fledged primary school.

Meanwhile, Dr Nyoni said Government will continue to facilitate SMEs financing through different facilities such as the ministry’s community development fund, women’s fund and other funding platforms like Women’s Bank and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Corporation (SMEDCO).

The Government is also using platforms like the forex auction system to provide easy access of foreign currency to SMEs. — @SikhulekelaniM1