Africa-Press – Eswatini. It remains important that a competitive industrial sector is in place for the kingdom to attain an export- driven economy and increased MSMEs participation in the economy.
Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, said the ministry was relentlessly working towards enhancing a conducive business environment for the attainment of improved access to markets and facilitation.
Khumalo said this during the fifth edition of the Eswatini Quality Awards held at The George Hotel on Friday night.
He mentioned that a competitive industrial sector supported by quality standards and management systems would give birth to local products that are able to compete equitably in both domestic and external markets.
“Quality standards support manufacturing throughout the entire continuum of the value chain. Quality and safety checks are particularly important at the interfaces between the different stages of the value chains,” he said.
He said the Eswatini Quality Awards recognise laboratories, inspection and certification bodies which play a critical role in ascertaining conformity to technical requirement at the various value chain stages.
“Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remain the focus of the Quality Awards Programme in the government agenda to enhance their development,” said Khumalo.
Khumalo explained that over the years, through the quality Awards programme, the ministry had noted that MSMEs were facing numerous challenges to fully participate in the exporter and product of the year Category.
“The ministry, under its mandate of supporting MSMEs development, is entrusted with the responsibility of assisting MSMEs to become competitive and sustainable. MSMEs encounter numerous challenges in their endeavour to remain relevant to their customers and survive,” said Khumalo.
He stated that given that MSMEs serve as an economic backbone of the country, the significance of their impact on the Eswatini’s employment rate and GDP was fundamental and as a ministry they were continuously exploring ways on how best they could strengthen internal capacities of MSMEs so that they are in a position to make products that are more relevant and preferred by consumers.
“One of the programmes underway is to support local products to conform to the requirements of the Product Certification Scheme offered by the Eswatini Standards Authority (SWASA),” he added.
The minister said despite the numerous attempts to acquire product certification, there were still problem areas that were impinge on the ability of MSMEs to attain Product Certification and in response to this impasse, the quality infrastructure institutions had collectively proposed to introduce a staggered certification programme as presented by the SWASA executive director.
“I have confidence that this initiative would enable local products to penetrate the domestic market and beyond.
This initiative is being supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – Accelerator Lab Unit,” he revealed.
He added that futuristic companies and organisations realised that customers’ needs and expectations were evolutionary.
“Therefore, companies and organisations need to remain sensitive and receptive to quality requirements and expectations of customers that are constantly changing.
Hence, there is no stop in the quality journey, but there is need for continuous improvement,” advised Khumalo.
Khumalo stated that his ministry was responsible for providing an enabling environment and support for the development and growth of business and industry for the attainment of economic development.
“The ministry has, and will remain committed to serving the nation in a manner that supports the business community and market participants through, among other things, adopting initiatives which improve competitiveness of goods and services that are produced in the Kingdom of Eswatini,” he said.
He stated that in 2017 the ministry introduced the Eswatini Quality Awards Programme with a view of inculcating a quality culture in the Eswatini society.
“A quality conscious society that demands quality goods and services will in turn demand production of competitive products and services that are able to trade seamlessly in the national, regional and global markets,” he said.
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