President Hakainde Hichilema has reiterated the government’s commitment to fostering a supportive business environment for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Zambia.
Speaking when he officiated at the National MSMEs and Cooperatives Indaba in Lusaka today, President Hichilema said the MSMEs are the engine of every economy making them a very important sector.
The Head of State highlighted key initiatives by the government, including inflation reduction, increased access to financing, exchange rate stabilisation, and restoring the rule of law in order to create an enabling trading environment.
He called on the MSMEs to continue improving and investing in their businesses and commending them for improving their packaging to make their products more attractive and marketable.
The media reports that President Hichilema further advised the MSMEs and cooperatives to be more open minded and learn and seek support from others in order to broaden their understanding in their line of businesses.
He also highlighted the importance of the market for MSMEs saying there is a need to utilize the huge African market which is readily available as the consumer demand is very high due to the high population in the continent.
“Understand that you have a huge market in front of you and you may not be able to satisfy it. Africa is rising, disposable income gets to improve, thereby effective demand will improve. And the youthful population makes it more advantageous in terms of its needs,” he explained.
Emphasising on the role that the government is playing in supporting the MSMEs and Cooperative sector, the President revealed that the government is streamlining business procedures in order to make it easy for businesses to register and operate.
He cited decentralisation of issuing licenses and working on reducing the multiplicity of licenses hence reducing the cost of license renewal on business owners as some of the interventions by the government to make the business sector favorable.
President Hichilema further disclosed that the government has driven a policy of positive discrimination of buying Zambian products produced by the MSMEs thereby providing a readily available market.
The head of state called on the MSMEs to checklist and highlight their areas of concern and what support they need from the government thereby making it easier for the government to support them.
In addressing the electricity situation in the country, President Hichilema further emphasized that the government is working tirelessly to improve the electricity sector in the country and assured that it is concerned with the welfare of the people.
He further expressed confidence that with the interventions by the government such as the solar plants, the electricity situation in the country will stabilize in a few years.
And speaking at the same Indaba, Minister of Small, Medium and Enterprises Development, Elias Mubanga highlighted the importance of the MSMEs and Cooperatives in the country saying they continue to significantly contribute to wealth and job creation for the country.
Mr Mubanga thanked the stakeholders for their contribution and support towards the indaba and called for more collaboration between the private sector and government in order to enhance capacity, compatibility and competitiveness.
Meanwhile, the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat representative, Abibata Mahama reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to support the private sector in Zambia by creating a single room space continental market that reduces fragmentation and opens new commercial opportunities across borders.
Ms Mahama urged the MSMEs to continue improving the standard of their products in order to penetrate the international market.
The theme for the second National MSMEs and Cooperatives Indaba was, “Building resilient and competitive MSMEs and Cooperatives for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.”
