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Sikhulekelani Moyo

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THE just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, (ZITF) provided inspiration to several small to medium enterprises (SMEs) from Bulawayo and beyond who had the opportunity to gain exposure and negotiate linkages with established businesses, an official has said.

Apart from participating in a series of conferences organised during the recent expo as well as business-to-business meetings with their counterparts, Bulawayo SMEs were able to learn more about product quality issues and the need to scale up value-addition of local products.

Bulawayo Chamber of SMEs programmes coordinator, Mr Nketa Mangoye Dlamini, said this in an interview in which he reviewed the impact of the ZITF on their sector.

He said this year there was an increase in the number of SMEs who participated in the exhibition, which gave the sector a chance to exchange notes on how to improve the quality of products, as well taping into exports.

Mr Dlamini said the events like ZITF do not promote product branding and marketing but also offer a platform that gives business people a chance to learn from others on how to improve their products and services as well as get into new businesses.

“This year’s ZITF addition was well attended in terms of exhibitors as it brought in representatives from different countries around the world as well as locally and regionally,” he said.

“This gave SMEs a chance to exchange notes and share issues to do with markets, suppliers, and other business information.

“SMEs also had an opportunity to visit stands during business days so that they check issues to do with quality so that they benchmark themselves against what other people are producing and what is needed by consumers across the region or internationally.

“We also had an opportunity as SMEs to look at value addition of natural resources like our wild fruits as there was a group of people from Lupane who were producing juices using those natural fruits.”

Under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which guides the country’s development between 2021 to 2025, unlocking the potential of SMEs is one of the critical steps towards fostering inclusive economic transformation as well as innovation.

This year’s ZITF ran under the theme: ‘Transformative, Innovation, Global Competitiveness’. SMEs have come up with affordable and innovative ways of production, which have seen production of dried fruits and vegetables as well as skin care products using natural resources like goat milk and umsuzwane/zumbani.

The production of dried fruits and vegetables has prevented post-harvest losses, which are incurred by farmers during times when products are flooding the markets following a shortage of resources like cold room facilities to keep their products fresh.

It is in this regard that SMEs are now producing dried cabbage powder, tomato powder, dried mangoes, and dried bananas. 

Mr Dlamini said the just-ended ZITF also gave SMEs an opportunity to meet dried food producers from Limpopo who happened to share notes on how to produce, package, and brand the products which tend to have a longer shelf life and some health benefits.

“We hope that information that they picked from the trade fair will assist them, especially those into agro-processing who are doing horticulture,” he said.

“Every year, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development, runs a parallel workshop for SMEs, so this year we attended the workshop, and there were about 120 SMEs who attended and we were looking at issues to do with innovation, international and regional trade, and protection of Intellectual Property and Copyrights.”

Meanwhile, SMEs have been urged to start preparing for next year’s ZITF in terms of finance and improved quality of products. Speaking to Business Chronicle during ZITF, ZimTrade Southern region manager Mrs Jacqueline Nyathi said SMEs should consider exhibiting as groups.

She said those keen to exhibit under the ZimTrade banner next year should start participating in different programmes offered by them, which will allow their businesses to improve the quality of products and other related things.

This year, some of the SMEs who participated under ZimTrade banner were drawn from the ‘Next She Exporter’ programme, which is meant to capacitate women-led businesses to be able to  grow their businesses and be eligible for exports. — @SikhulekelaniM1