Africa-Press – Eswatini. Business Eswatini (BE) Vice President Andrew Le Roux says there is a need to establish ways for the big businesses to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Le Roux was speaking during the consultative stakeholder meeting held at Business Eswatini offices yesterday. The vice president who is also the chief executive officer (CEO) of Montigny Investments, stated that currently the country’s legislative framework was somehow hindering big businesses to support the small ones. He stated that, therefore, there was a need to review certain legislations, which included the competition legislation. Le Roux highlighted that Business Eswatini has been discreetly supporting the MSMEs sector with different interventions, such as the Vukani Bomake Project, led by the Business Women Eswatini committee within BE. “We have been helping municipalities by promoting an initiative called ‘Lunch at the Market’, which urges people to support small businesses trading in our city markets. BE recently organised another successful edition in Mahlanya, and we will be exploring more such initiatives,” he said.
Youth
He said over and above collaborating with the MSMEs sector in general, they have worked with the youth on initiatives like Jovel’industry and supported the creative industry through the Social Media Awards Training on digital media skills. The vice president stated that The International Council for Small Businesses states that MSMEs account for over 90 per cent of all businesses worldwide, hire more than 70 per cent of the workforce, and add about 50 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP). He highlighted that in Ghana, MSMEs make up nearly 70 per cent of the GDP, a figure that was also reflected in the sub-Saharan Africa region, where their contribution averages around 50 per cent.
Potential
He mentioned that in Eswatini, they saw a big potential for the industry to expand and make a more substantial impact on GDP, while offering good job opportunities. He said certainly, the outcome would occur with full support from the sector. Meanwhile, the Director of MSMEs in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Mluleki Dlamini, said local businesses were also prone to global economic shocks. He said, therefore, there was a need for collaborative efforts to boost the local MSMEs to get back on their feet and boost the local economy as it had been noted that MSMEs played an important role in that regard.
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