Government says there is need to formulate interventions that will benefit micro-businesses as they constitute about 95 percent of businesses in the country.
Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary, Mushuma Mulenga says it is unfortunate micro businesses have over the years been overlooked.
Mr Mulenga noted that most micro-businesses could not benefit from government incentives meant for SMEs as they could not meet the stipulated requirements due to low turnover and other factors.
“As government, we need to look at this category of businesses and begin to tailor our interventions towards them,” he said.
Mr Mulenga said this during a consultative meeting with the Livingstone Chamber of Commerce in Livingstone yesterday.
He further stressed the need for effective policy implementation to address the various challenges entrepreneurs are facing on the ground.
Mr Mulenga urged the Livingstone Chamber of Commerce to take the lead in ensuring government implements the relevant policies.
“As government we have resolved to work closely with the private sector. We need a close relationship with entrepreneurs on the ground as they are an important stakeholder and play a key role in attaining economic growth for the country,” he said.
And speaking earlier, Livingstone Chamber of Commerce President, Namakau Siyanga implored the Ministry of Commerce through its statutory bodies to enhance collaboration, with the Chamber of Commerce, in order to timely identify the constraints affecting the private sector along the different value chains of the economy.
“As a chamber of commerce, we believe the Ministry of Commerce has formulated policies that are able to cause positive change of the livelihood of the private sector if effective implementation is done in a collaborative manner between public to public and public to private partnerships,” she said
Ms Siyanga said for the country to attain meaningful economic growth, there was need to concentrate on implementing policies that have been formulated and enhance monitoring and evaluation in order to track progress and record impact.
The strength of Zambia’s economy doesn’t lie in 1 or 2 large conglomerates but the collective addition of smaller players spread across the country. SMEs have a national presence unlike big corporation that are concentrated in one region. Please put into practice what you’ve said and you’ll soon see the positive effect