A tour of various projects in Nyanyadzi by The Zimbabwean last week revealed that SMEs were producing a range of marketable agricultural and building products that are not selling locally.
Emerging entrepreneurs emphasized the need for the government and other commercial stakeholders to promote the exportation of their products.
“We manufacture state of the art equipment here and our main problem is that we have nowhere to sell it,’’ Milton Simbabure of Nyanyadzi said. Alfred Ngoshi, who produces farming implements such as ploughs, scotch carts and harrows, echoed his sentiments.
“The sector will only grow if responsible authorities increase foreign markets for our products,” he said.”We are not saying local markets do not promote growth, but there is a need for a regional and international marketing strategy.”
One of the major constraints that the sector faces is the reluctance of banks to give them loans because of most of them do not have collateral.
As a result, most small businesses operate on thin capital bases at an informal level. The enterprises lack skilled personnel and adequate training.
Post published in: News