Bulawayo, (New Ziana) –Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) should formalise their operations to avoid being excluded from tenders and other business opportunities, an official has said.
Acting Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, and Small and Medium Enterprises Development provincial development officer for Bulawayo, Clayton Mharadzano said this on the side lines of an MSME Expo on Tuesday.
Mharadzano said small businesses should formalise to enable them secure lucrative business opportunities and unlock their growth potential.
“We are extending the arm to our vendors to say formalise. Formalisation to us is not only the traditional way of registering with the Companies Registrar. We are saying formalise at the local authority level,” he explained.
“That is an initial stage of formalisation. But if informal sector players remain informal, we will continue to face the same challenge where they are automatically excluded from certain tenders and opportunities.”
According to the 2021 MSMEs Survey, the sector employs 4.8 million people on a full-time basis and contributes more than 60 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Mharadzano also spoke on the importance of insuring businesses to protect them against disasters such as fires.
“Another challenge we are facing is the lack of insurance by micro businesses. Most people are aware of infernos that engulfed properties and goods in recent months. We have seen some business premises housing SMEs being reduced to ashes.
“Many informal sector players lack insurance. The question is always, who should insure? Is it the owner of the complex, the property holders, or the businessperson? “To us, as a department, we are clear to say both should have a facility of insurance. Local authorities must ensure that micro businesses operating within their jurisdictions have an insurance policy and that their structures are insured,” he said, some insurance companies were now catering for the informal sector.
Mharadzano also underscored the need for preparedness in the face of pandemics and other crises, citing COVID-19 pandemic, whose effects he said are still being felt, particularly by small businesses.
He said his Ministry is committed to empowering MSMEs by creating platforms for skills development and market access through expos such the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair where they are provided exhibition spaces for free.
New Ziana