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2008 was a successful year for entrepreneurs, observes Sichula

2008 was a successful year for entrepreneurs, observes Sichula
Written by Nchima Nchito
Thursday, January 01, 2009 8:07:34 AM

ZAMBIA Chamber of Small and Medium Business Associations (ZCSMBA) executive secretary Maxwell Sichula has described 2008 as a successful year for entrepreneurs.

In an interview, Sichula said 2008 had been marked by positive events in terms of entrepreneurship.

“The African Capacity Building Foundation Project is a good example. Though this was signed last year (2007), implementation only begun in 2008,” Sichula said.

He said this was a US $1.7 million (about K8.3 billion) project which was meant to build capacity among member organisations.

“The year was also characterised by support from the state, stakeholders and other cooperating partners,” he said.

“We had the Ministry of Commerce sponsoring some SMEs to travel to Malaysia to attend fares there so as to get exposure and develop contacts.”

Sichula added that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in conjunction with other cooperating partners had also launched a K24 billion project for SMEs.

“Under the business development voucher scheme which is a three-year programme, resources have been committed to develop the supply and demand side of business,” he said.

Sichula further said his organisation had also managed to secure funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank financing arm, to fund three programmes and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been signed to that effect.

He however said the association had faced numerous challenges faced during 2008 as well.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced is market access. Some of our members found it very hard to access markets for their products,” he said. “In cases where they did manage, they had to face stiff competition from cheap and inferior imports.”

Sichula said the problem of accessing finance, though spoken of frequently, still posed a serious challenge.

“Granted, we are seeing many commercial banks coming to the aid of SMEs, like Finance Bank with the Twikatane scheme, there is still a lot that needs to be done if SMEs are to have the capital required to develop their businesses,” said Sichula.

“For 2009, my organisation will be working to solidify the advances made in 2008 and ensure the successful implementation of the various projects.”

Labels: MAXWELL SICHULA, ZCSMBA

posted by MrK @ 8:08 AM