Africa-Press – Lesotho. In order to grow Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, (MSMEs) we need to invest in a clear legal framework, overcome barriers in finances and train Basotho in
business,” said the Minister of Small Business Development, Cooperatives and Marketing Chief Thesele Maseribane at the launch of ‘Sethala’ on Wednesday.
The purpose of Sethala is to ensure that solemn continuous discussions are held between the public and private sector to discuss and resolve challenges faced by MSMEs and cooperatives.
The platform will also explore opportunities for the development of the business ecosystem. Some of the benefits of Sethala is to improve collaboration between role players in the private sector to overcome
barriers to growing the Lesotho indigenous business sector and the resolution of access to finance impediments. Facilitation of access to markets at national, regional and international levels and capacity building on production
and marketing of products across value chains. Speaking at the launch, Maseribane said MSMEs will not develop unless the ministry invest finances, good strategies, clear legal framework and good decision
making. He further said through the challenges faced by the country, they need to protect the agenda of small businesses and the country’s economy. “Growing
of Basotho MSMEs need to be treated as a national agenda and we need to come up with solutions to overcome barriers to access to finances,” he said. Maseribane
emphasized that small businesses need to work in collaboration with all stakeholders to break the financial barriers and drive them to international markets.
He said MSMEs need to move from informal sectors to formal sectors and they should be formalized with a clear legal framework. He added that the Ministry through Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation
(BEDCO) needs to focus on training Basotho cooperatives, youth, business women and men. He said they have asked BEDCO to increase the numbers of trainees they train per year and BEDCO has agreed. BEDCO
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Idia Penane said the corporation is a place where small businesses go for assistance on development. She said the Minister of
Small Businesses Development, Cooperatives and Marketing approached them about the number of trainees they host each year which appears to be low. “In our
strategy for this financial year we have decided to assist about 1350 Basotho businesses because last year we assisted only 10,” she said. Penane said this
is a great improvement for them and they have already taken necessary steps to make this happen as finances are already in place to kick start. The Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit Representative Chaba Mokuku said those whose
businesses collapsed due to Covid-19 pandemic need to be assisted to get back into business. Mokuku said they need to plan a strategy that will enhance the
country’s economy and they need to bounce back stronger than before. He indicated that MSMEs seem to have been affected more by Covid-19 than any other
businesses. He said the banks together with micro finance institutions need to have products that answer to small businesses’ needs. “We are also working on linking small businesses with big industries to connect
them so that they can supply necessary inputs,” he said. Mokuku said they work with BEDCO by improving it so that it can be able to improve small businesses
and ever since they worked with BEDCO, they have ensured that the skills for trainers are advanced. One Small business owner ‘Mathabo Mafate who joined the launch of Sethala said they are very grateful to the
ministry for opening such a platform where discussions on the betterment of the business sector will be held. She further said they feel very positive about
the initiative because this gives them assurance that they too are the game changers in the improvement of the country’s economy. “We really hope this platform will grow and extend to other districts so that owners of small businesses in the districts can be part of the discussions,” she said.
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