The Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Business Associations (ZCSMBA) has asked government to fully establish the Small Medium Enterprise fund under the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA).
ZCSMBA Chairperson Maxwell Sichula said there was need for government to ensure that the SME funding under the ZDA act was fully operational to make the sector grow.
Mr. Sichula told ZANIS in Lusaka today that currently, the SMEs were faced with a lot of challenges in trying to expand their businesses hence the need for government to make the funding accessible.
He explained that if the fund is made available, many SMEs will be given a chance to grow, therefore contributing positively towards national development.
Mr. Sichula noted that currently, the growth of the SME sector poses a challenge to the country’s economy as many of them have failed to meaningfully participate in the economic expansion programmes of the country.
He stressed that this was why government should support initiatives aimed at promoting small business.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sichula has expressed happiness with government‘s decision to table a warehouse protection bill before parliament.
He pointed out that if passed, the bill will go a long way in improving the present storage operation systems in the country therefore benefiting a lot of his members.
He has since called on Members of Parliament to support the bill when it is tabled in the house.
During his 2010 national budget address to parliament, Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane announced that a warehouse bill will soon be taken to parliament.
[ZANIS]
All I know, Zambia’s small business activities are monopolised… hence the rich gets richer ,,, the poor gets poorer.. period….
Yes please support SMEs. Keep up teh good work Mr Sichula.
SMEs are vital to any economy. There are only so many big companies.
Apart from Govt support, please help SMEs to access bank loans at affordable rates. These entrepreneurs and small business need our support.
85% of Americans are employed by small to medium businesses. Thus the true mechanism behind this countries wealth is the microscale industry; the freedom of movement of employees into and out of these ventures too helps spur growth. Let’s take a look at Zambia, there is a ” let’s stop a brother/ sister from independent commerce enriching Economics.”
leaders in goverment are the worst haters on the continent, Kavindele alichula umu gaize, a brother wanted to franchise telecom, to no avail because someone had forsight of his future riches. If this foresight were implemented to our resource management Zambia would be Botswana.
It great to see that ther are still pipo with guts in zed.The future of the country is in the SME.The Govt. is wasting money unnecessary trip and corrupting pipo to critisize oppostion.Mr.Sichone viva!!
Mwanawakwitu,
” 85% of Americans are employed by small to medium businesses. Let’s take a look at Zambia, there is a ” let’s stop a brother/ sister from independent commerce enriching Economics.” ”
The only time SMEs are discussed, is when it comes to ‘broadening the tax base’. It is all about how much the government/MMD can ‘take’. So you may be right. However, there must be a way in which we can circumvent this issue.
There is so much opportunity to make money, but government doesn’t seem to be interested or enthusiastic about it. They don’t support agriculture, although all the politicians have farms (conflict of interest, perhaps?). The attitude is – as long as we shovel a few bags of fertilizer to the farmers, we have done our job.
Continued…
” leaders in goverment are the worst haters on the continent, Kavindele alichula umu gaize, a brother wanted to franchise telecom, to no avail because someone had forsight of his future riches. If this foresight were implemented to our resource management Zambia would be Botswana ”
Maybe they were using the same foresight and that is why they are so keen on giving Zambia’s resources away to foreigners. 🙂 Just kidding – sort of.
Is this an extension of the colonial economy that the politicos feel comfortable with, because it maintains their position in society? We need some answers here. What is the real objective of development? Why the emphasis on foreign investment? Why so much consumption in government and no investment in infrastructure and commerce?
My brother or sister Mrk God’s blessings; a prayer for you and yours aswell. It is always good to know that Zambia has great minds out there. Your break down of our leadership in Zambia is on point. It always dawns on my concious that our true freedom fighters died for our being in the diaspora and in employment in Zambia. As for the the surviving wise and non-inferior complex infused freedom fighters, they got sidelined due to the fact that they would have stored us to individualistic interdependency, such as is exibited by ants or locusts. Yes indeed they buy farms for notoriety and small godships; give fertilizer but they leave out the spontaneous diverging lanes that would make Zambia a world bread basket. Some Zambians even abroad exibit the crabs in a bucket syndrome. God loves us.
I agree with Max Sichula. It is pathetic to see the inertia being exhibited in implementing good programmes.Take the CEEF.It takes ages to have the applications processed.Not only do the “co-ordinators” keep changing goal posts(guidelines) but when all is done to their satisfaction they complain of shortage of manpower to process the applications. Can they publish the average lead time to disbursement of funds for all to see that they are inefficient.