Bulawayo, (New Ziana)-The Zimbabwe government is putting in place measures to level the financial playing field through removing persistent hurdles that are crippling the growth of women-led businesses, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Addressing delegates who attended the Small to Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) conference in the country’s second largest city on Wednesday, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said lack of capital was the primary barrier hindering the participation of women in the national economy.
She said access to finance was important and women should be supported in all their endeavours.
Mutsvangwa added that despite its establishment in 2017, the Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank has consistently struggled with inadequate capitalization.
While acknowledging ongoing support from Treasury, Mutsvangwa said the allocated funds fall short of demand, leading to widespread delays and underfunded projects.
To illustrate the challenge, Mutsvangwa pointed to persistent delays in disbursement of up to eight months in key funds like the Women Development Fund and the Zimbabwe Community Development Fund.
“Although money is budgeted, the releases are not timely. Furthermore, the loan sizes ranging from US$500 to US$5 000 are simply insufficient to meet the overwhelming scale of demand,” she said.
Mutsvangwa added that the government was now courting other financial institutions to contribute to financing initiatives for women.
“We have a partnership between the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation (SMEDCO) and an international Arab bank to boost small and medium enterprises support,” she said.
Despite the constraints, Mutsvangwa said empowering women entrepreneurs was crucial as most of them contributed over 60 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
New Ziana
