Micro, small and medium entreprenuers (MSMEs) in Malawi are found everywhere in the urban and rural areas. In some communities are almost in each and every household. Majority trade in public markets. You may also find them at road junctions, streets, bus depots, primary and secondary schools and of course in designated trading areas. Nonetheless the government has a big task to provide a conducive environment for all of them.
Some micro traders change type of business anyday depending on where they think is currently viable. You may note that it is difficult to plan support for such groups but also they can hardly master a profession in a particular area due to lack of continuity of their plans.
Some promising small and medium enterprises in our city face uphill challenges resulting from high operational costs in form of rentals and transportation. Though rentals can easily be reduced when they build their own shops it is difficult for them to secure land in our city something we would like to reverse through deliberate efforts such as increasing the size of local designated trading areas, currently they are two small. The other way out is through public private partnerships where our local authority will provide land and a private real property investor will build shops or market complex that will absorb many MSMEs now found in the not so viable areas.
The issue here is to probe thinking for our MSMEs in Afirca particularly my country Malawi where they contribute substantialy to our economy. We need to nurture them.
Thanks to our government for investing substantially the past 4 years in infrastructure development suitable for MSMEs. Yet more investment is required in this area and the government should not be left alone.
Next time i will write about regularisation of formalisation of SMEs so watch out
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
SMEs in Malawi
In Malawi there are few companies that can employ on average more than 3.5 million people( average of people above 18 years). In the past 10 years instead of the available companies employing more people they made more people lose their jobs due to what they called bad business atmosphere. The result was more people who lost their jobs opened micro and small scale businesses to enable their families survive (not because of knowledge or expertise), particularly in urban areas. Of course all of them could not have gone home to farm because their life could have been worse off there compared to staying in town as effective farming today is very very costly. Soil erosion has worsened the agricultural output over the past 20 years. Imported fertiliser is unaffordable to most farmers. The recent fertiliser subsidy program is for few households per village, the poorest, which helps only those who are lucky to receive. Some rich people with logistical means steal the fertiliser without shame.
Now the challenge is for stakeholders; government, private firms and non state actors to consider seriously ways of supporting the daring local entrepreneurs by providing any kind of support or incentive that can trigger the booming of the small scale businesses that so far employees many malawians, particulalry young ones. that flock to cities and towns looking for jobs after getting disappointed with poor harvests in their villages.
The solutions are simple since they are well defined and echoed by these enterprising entrepreneurs all the time. These are: Communal sheds where they can comfortably display their goods, Training for effective management, low interest funding, etc.
So far Government, Press Trust and City and Town Assemblies are the only ones much concerned and assisting. Micro finance institutions are assisting but in most cases there is disappointment from some due to failure to understand one another, such that some perceived to be cruel have been nicknamed "loan sharks". The corporate world is unbelievably silent and so are NGOs. Don't the corporate world know the importance of SMEs? They are your customers, please come on, come forward!
Ezronn
Now the challenge is for stakeholders; government, private firms and non state actors to consider seriously ways of supporting the daring local entrepreneurs by providing any kind of support or incentive that can trigger the booming of the small scale businesses that so far employees many malawians, particulalry young ones. that flock to cities and towns looking for jobs after getting disappointed with poor harvests in their villages.
The solutions are simple since they are well defined and echoed by these enterprising entrepreneurs all the time. These are: Communal sheds where they can comfortably display their goods, Training for effective management, low interest funding, etc.
So far Government, Press Trust and City and Town Assemblies are the only ones much concerned and assisting. Micro finance institutions are assisting but in most cases there is disappointment from some due to failure to understand one another, such that some perceived to be cruel have been nicknamed "loan sharks". The corporate world is unbelievably silent and so are NGOs. Don't the corporate world know the importance of SMEs? They are your customers, please come on, come forward!
Ezronn
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
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