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(HERALD) Form banking co-operatives, Mujuru urges SMEs

Form banking co-operatives, Mujuru urges SMEs
Thursday, 15 December 2011 00:00
Herald Reporter

Vice President Joice Mujuru has urged Small to Medium Enterprises to form a co-operatives' bank to evade tringent lending conditions from commercial banks.
Speaking at a two-day training workshop of co-operators led by the Kenyan Co-operative Movement in Harare yesterday, VP Mujuru said the bank will also minimise dependency on foreign owned capital.

She said the bank would also bury the scourge of moving around with a begging bowl in the international corridors of power.

"One of the greatest challenges co-operatives in Zimbabwe face is lack of capital. It is only by the formation of savings and credit co-operatives that we can mop up that little excess liquidity among our people at the bottom of our economic pyramid. And when these little pools of savings are gathered into a Co-operative Bank, we have a huge reservoir indeed."

VP Mujuru said co-operatives and SMEs played an important role in turning around the country's economic fortunes.

She urged small entrepreneurs to learn more from their Kenyan counterparts who lead the best co-operatives in Africa. VP Mujuru said the world economy was facing numerous challenges that required a new business model catering for the needs of ordinary people.

In Zimbabwe, the VP said, Government had initiated a broad-based economic empowerment programme through indigenisation.

She said the indigenisation programme was people oriented and it helps to deal with rampant unemployment problems that lead to uprisings like what happened in North Africa.

"Events in Western countries such as the Occupy Wall Street campaign clearly point to the need for a new economic order," she said.

Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni said the Co-operatives Bank and a Co-operatives College should be in place by March next year.

"We want Government to help us on three big projects that we are working on. Firstly, we want to have a Co-operatives Bank that should be completed before March next year," she said.

"Secondly, we want to have an SME College and we also want Government to help us to unite our co-operators for them to where they come from."

Minister Nyoni said the Western model of doing business was dying and it was important for local business people to start pursuing other avenues of doing business.

She said Western countries were failing to manage their economies and as such they could not be the best business partners.

The Kenyan Co-operative Movement is in the country on a five-day exchange visit to share experiences with their Zimbabwean counterparts.

Kenyan Assistant Minister of Co-operative Development and Marketing Linah Jebii Kilimo is leading the five-member delegation from Kenya.

The workshop was attended by more than 300 co-operators from various sectors of the economy.

Labels: BANKING, COOPERATIVES, JOICE MUJURU, SMEs

posted by MrK @ 6:16 PM