HARARE: The government has unveiled machinery set to boost the small and medium enterprises sector through a $1 million grant acquired from India to encourage bilateral trade and investments between the two countries.
Speaking at the SME Incubator Centre in Harare yesterday, the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development Sithembiso Nyoni said the equipment comes as part of the Indo-Zimbabwe bilateral relations.
“We received machinery and equipment from India comprising 26 technologies meant to develop the SME sector through value-addition of our local products. Experts from India will soon jet into the country to install and commission the equipment at this plant,” she said. Nyoni said her ministry was now making efforts to commercialise and industrialise the SME sector by empowering skilled vendors.
She said the plant will include a barbed wire manufacturing plant, a solar light assembling plant, a paper manufacturing plant for diaper production, and a honey processing plant, among others.
“We’re going to train and upgrade those in the SME sector in this incubation centre. We’ll train eight SMES every three months from every province to make a total of 80. The training will be vital in empowering them with skills to produce quality goods,” she said. Minister Nyoni said individuals who have already engaged themselves in various trades of the SMEs will be selected to advance their skills.
“People who complete training at this centre will go back to their communities and start their own ventures as they’re going to benefit from machinery we’re going to give them after completing training,” she said.
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere who was part of the proceedings lauded the move and said his ministry will assist by providing land for construction of more plants in the country’s constituencies. “I’m encouraging my ministry’s physical planning department to ensure that wherever there is construction of houses, space should be left to cater for SMEs,” he said.
