Africa-Press – Eswatini. The major challenges faced by businesses for survival include the lack of access to finance, markets, infrastructure, skills and the business environment challenges.
To address these challenges, the Industrial Development Company of Eswatini (IDCE) and Eswatini Development Finance Corporation (FINCORP) have reiterated their support for local businesses especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Basically, the companies emphasised that their doors were open to supporting the local businesses, especially to access finance to grow their businesses. The companies were making their presentations during the financial wellness seminar organised by MTN Eswatini for local businesspeople, especially MSMEs. The seminar was held at the Mountain View Hotel yesterday morning.
When making his presentation, FINCORP Business Development Support Manager Manqoba Mazibuko stated that his organisation offers a wide range of products and services to meet the needs of all emaSwati, regardless of their income level or social status. He said FINCORP was committed to providing accessible financial services to all, and it has a nationwide network of branches and agents to make it easy for people to access its services. “If you are looking for a financial institution to help you achieve your financial goals, FINCORP is a great option,” said Mazibuko.
Expansion
He mentioned that their objectives were to finance and promote the development of enterprises owned by emaSwati and support the expansion of loan financing to MSMEs. Mazibuko said they were also there to create jobs and alleviate poverty, supporting the provision of business advisory services, training, monitoring, technical transfers and development of others products and services for MSMEs. The manager stated that they were supporting businesses across many sectors including sugar cane, retail, heavy haulage, vendors, forestry and order finance to name a few. He also highlighted that over the financial year 2021/22, total loans disbursed by FINCORP reached E6.5 billion from inception to date. He said these loans have been extended to over 80 000 beneficiaries who support just above 15 000 jobs and contribute about E1.5 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP). He stated that the types of loans provided by FINCORP included general business loans, micro business loans and agribusiness loans. Meanwhile, IDCE’s Nontobeko Dlamini they were also open to assist businesses across many sectors to grow. She highlighted that as IDCE they were there to stimulate and facilitate sustainable economic growth through the provision of development finance to all sectors of the economy satisfying stakeholder aspirations.
Challenges
Dlamini spoke about the challenges faced by local businesses and the solutions to those challenges. She mentioned that entrepreneurs were faced with a challenge of inability to identify the actual type of business to pursue. She said this led to copying from others and pursuing the same business and such eventually led to failure. She said it was important for entrepreneurs to identify or spot a niche other than copying other businesses. She noted that some entrepreneurs often failed to compile business plans and such led to failure to secure funding. She said in order to address that, it was imperative for the entrepreneurs to attend classes that would offer them knowledge on how to draft sound business plans. Dlamini added that another challenge faced by entrepreneurs was the lack of exposure to viable projects, markets and needed products that would allow them to tap into the market. She also mentioned that others often wanted to start big whereas businesses require- small beginnings and financers did not just offer big loans to starters.
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