Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini Development Finance Corporation (FINCORP) has contributed about E1.5 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Brand Development and Communications Officer Manqoba Makhubu said looking back over the past 26 years, in line with their founding mandate, ‘to empower Eswatini citizens through the provision of meaningful access to credit, job creation, and poverty alleviation,’ they had disbursed a cumulative E6.3 billion in loans to more than 80 000 MSMEs. “Just about 15 000 jobs are presently being financed by FINCORP for MSMEs.
“There is over E1.4 billion in the hands of Eswatini entrepreneurs, including women and youth who have been funded by FINCORP,” Makhubu said.
He stated that since 2017, the micro-small and medium enterprises (MSME) Day was observed on June 27 every year, to recognise the contribution of this sector in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in promoting innovation, creativity and sustainable work for everyone.
According to Makhubu, this year’s MSMEs Day was focused on the themes of resilience and rebuilding. He said FINCORP was proud to join this year’s celebration of global MSMEs that represents about 90 per cent of businesses and more than 50 per cent of employment worldwide.
He said MSMEs were the lifeblood of the economy, but the harsh reality was that these businesses bear the brunt of periods of economic uncertainty exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the riots.
Resilience
“This MSME Day we are viewing the theme ‘Resilient and Rebuilding: MSMEs for Sustainable Development’ from the lens of the businesses we support everyday across the different demographics, including women and youth to build their resilience and rebuild their businesses in line with our tagline, ‘Helping You To Help Yourself’.
Makhubu added that as part of the global celebration of SME Day, FINCORP’s Group Managing Director Dumisani Msibi joined a round table discussion hosted by the World Association of SMEs themed ‘enabling smes growth in present times’ where he presented on the state of SMEs in Africa.
“The Group MD appealed to the world body of SMEs to help African countries to create an enabling environment for global SMEs in order for them to thrive. He also appealed for serious consideration for youth owned businesses.
WASME received the presentation with appreciation and undertook to launch programmes aimed at helping developing African countries to scale up SME support,” the brand and communications officer said.
He explained that the country was facing a challenge to grow the economy while at the same time generating quality jobs in large numbers every year.
He said by supporting the development of grassroots entrepreneurs to set up their own business units, they could suitably address the problem of youth unemployment. He said since MSMEs drive the country’s economy, it was necessary to offer them easy access to funding to help them thrive.
FINCORP pledged to avail recommendations and practical tools to create more targeted interventions to ensure sustainable and inclusive recovery, economic equity, and opportunities for SMEs, especially for women and youth owned MSMEs.
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