By Pemphero Malimba:
Minister of Trade and Industry Sosten Gwengwe has challenged local manufacturers to enhance quality of their products to effectively attract buyers both on the local and foreign markets.
This came out during the Buy Malawi exhibition which concluded yesterday in Lilongwe.
Gwengwe said small and medium enterprises should be attentive to the advice consumer’s offer which could help their products easily penetrate foreign markets.
“What Malawians will enjoy, be assured of acceptance in Zambia, Tanzania or South Africa. Also we have intensified efforts to protect local products as the Control of Goods Act has been expanded to include more products that need licencing before they are brought in Malawi,” Gwengwe said.
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United Nations Development Programme country representative Fenella Frost said there is a need to find ways to support young innovators in the country.
“Eleven percent of Malawi’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is made from Malawian produced products that means consumers are attending to products from outside the country more. We need more ways to help young innovators to invest in creating new businesses in the country,” Frost said.
Comesa Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB) Malawi chapter Chairperson Selina Mwenelupembe stressed the need for concerted efforts to promote local manufacturers in the country.
“There is a need to make sure that there is a joint value chain between producers, farmers, people processing the product, the markets and other the consumers that will help the local manufacturers,” Mwenelupembe said.
