Africa-Press – Lesotho. Speaking at an ongoing virtual EXPO today,Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation (BEDCO) Consultant ‘Mahalieo Nyanguru has said Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) are faced with a lot of problems that
hinder their growth. This she said while addressing the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) access to finance and finding innovative solutions to unlock sources of capital.
“The way MSMEs fund their businesses is through getting loans from micro finances institutions in Lesotho which are
also not very well positioned to give financing for MSMEs to a point whereby they fund individuals instead. We have to find innovative ways to fund MSMEs,
things that we have not done. It is very unfortunate that we have to even go beyond the border to fund our businesses, yet we have businesses that are
worthy to fund other businesses in this country,” she stated. Meanwhile, Chaperone Ltd Co-Founder and Managing Director Mohau Mochebelele touched on capital raising framework,
which he noted as another big problem faced by MSMEs. He said the solution to this problem is technology based. For the improvisation of market sizes, he
said they need to think beyond the borders of Lesotho. He further said that competition will always be there in businesses, so businesses need to keep
track on the Key Performance Indicator (KIP) during the running of the business. Meanwhile, Lesotho Post Bank Head of Banking Khauhelo Ramakongoana stated that their mandate is to assist unbend and
under bend SMEs. He mentioned that they encourage SMEs to diversify their businesses. He said they want to come up with innovative solutions that will
address local challenges faced by businesses. “We are collaborating with different players in business sectors to ensure that we are able to manage the whole
ecosystem. In that way if we know all the flaws in that particular ecosystem then we will be able to assist that particular sector. We have so far managed
to assist at least three sectors where we say we have the whole value chain, from manufacturers’ to retailers. Also being in collaboration with BEDCO helps
us to be closer to SMEs as it is their core mandate to work with SMEs,” he noted. The EXPO started on Monday and will run until Friday. It is intended to assist small businesses survive and thrive over Covid-19. This year, the EXPO runs under the theme: INSPIRE, INNOVATE, And NETWORK.
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