Maravi

(TIMES ZAMBIA) Zanaco counsels SMEs

Zanaco counsels SMEs
By Business Reporter

ZANACO has urged Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to establish organisational structures that will enable them continue operating smoothly even in an event of a senior member of a venture dying or being incapacitated.

Zanaco Ndola West senior manager Boyd Sichone said during a financial literacy workshop that a number of SMEs in the country did not have established structures for them to operate smoothly in the absence of a pioneer.

He said many entrepreneurs did not involve their spouses and other key members of their families leading to the collapse of the ventures in an event of incapacitation or death.

He said entrepreneurs should ensure that they involved other people in the day-to-day running of business to ensure continuity and smooth operations.

"Issues such as keeping of financial records and day-today running of a business should be made available to one's spouse or any other close members so that in an event of death or incapacitation the venture does not collapse.

“Most of the time the family members are left in problems after the collapse of a business," Mr Sichone said.

Zanaco sponsored the workshop in conjunction with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) tool kit project and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the Word Bank for SMEs at the Savoy Hotel.

He said the SMEs were an important component in national development as they were the engine of economic growth.

Mr Sichone said Zanaco has recognised the SMEs as important partners, the reason why a specific training programme had been developed for them.

He said many SMEs did not understand matters relating to raising financing in order to boost their operations and ended up collapsing in initial stages.

Mr Sichone said the training programme would assist emerging entrepreneurs to submit effective business plans and complete documentation when applying for credit facilities offered by the bank.

COMESA toolkit Zambia project coordinator Edwin Zulu urged SMEs to enhance collaboration and networking with organisations such as the district business associations and business chambers.

Mr Zulu said business for emerging entrepreneurs became cost-effective if they collaborated.

"When you are operating in isolation, you may not get the business ideas from others. Operational costs can be reduced through collaboration. For instance, you can share transport costs with a fellow SME dealing in the same products if you are transport goods from the same point," he said.

He said SMEs should remain focused and only diversify when it became necessary.

Mr Zulu said SMEs should only venture into a business only after a thorough and careful market research.

He said it would be a disaster for anyone to start business without sufficient information about the market as such a move was likely to collapse.

Labels: SMEs, ZANACO

posted by MrK @ 2:42 PM