Ministry moves to empower MSMEs
The government has said it is developing the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Bill which would help regulate the industry and empower players.
Director of SMEs in the Ministry of Trade Limbikani Kachiwaya said the ministry anticipates the bill to be tabled in Parliament during the next sitting.
He was speaking at the MSMEs Policy launch in Blantyre on Wednesday.
Kachiwaya said the legal instrument will help in ironing out some challenges that industry players face and further facilitate growth.
In the interim, according to Kachiwaya, the MSMEs Policy has been crafted to protect MSMEs and ensure efficiency.
“The policy is to assist MSMEs do business effectively and efficiently. Apart from the Policy and MSMEs Bill, the government is also coming up with a Malawi National MSMEs database to be accessed by all institutions to capture the data of MSMEs per sector,” Kachiwaya said.
Among other things, the policy has nine priority areas including access to finance, access to markets, entrepreneurship development, business information and skills, operation of value chains, business infrastructure, and MSMEs networks.
Malawi Union of Small and Medium Enterprises Vice President Leckson Kachala said the blueprints are essential in promoting MSMEs development.
“We have been operating without direction because there was no policy. This is therefore, timely and will help the MSMEs to operate effectively going forward,” Kachala said.
The industry faces myriad challenges as most players continue failing to access finance despite the sector being a significant source of employment, providing jobs to 1.6 million people
Statistics show that 60 percent of businesses in the country are microenterprises, 32 percent are small enterprises while only eight percent are medium enterprises.
