The Ministry of Trade and Industry says its Southern Africa Trade Connectivity Project (Satcp) will boost the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector by offering training and grants of up to $1 million (K1.8 billion).
Principal Secretary responsible for the SMEs sector Francis Zhuwao said the SMEs initiative under Satcp, which was launched this week in Blantyre, offers up to $1 million (K1.8 billion) grants to cooperatives for infrastructure projects.
Speaking during the launch of the project in Chileka, Blantyre, Zhuwao said the project targets cooperative leadership training aimed at instilling corporate governance to ensure efficient management of their groupings and growth.
“This cooperative leadership training aims at improving governance and productive capacity of value chains that Chileka Horticulture Corporation and several other cooperatives will be able to do throughout the 15 districts where we are implementing the project.
“We are sure that through this training programme, they will acquire the skills for them to be able to produce more and compete at regional level,” he said.
In his remarks, chairperson of Chileka Horticulture Cooperative, which grows crops such as tomato, cabbages and bananas, Frank Ritch, lamented lack of proper markets which often results in selling their produce cheaply to vendors.
“We would like to appeal for government support to link us with proper markets because we are sometimes desperate to sell to middle men at a giveaway price mostly because we do not have infrastructures to store the products,” Ritch said.
In his response, Zhuwao said the warehouse challenge of the SMEs is part of the last-mile initiative of the grants associated with the project.
He said: “Through the project, a grant of up to $1 million (K1.8 billion) will be given to medium scale cooperatives while small scale ones can access a maximum of $25 000 (K43.7 million) for construction of infrastructure like warehouses.
“We believe that by having warehouses, the SMEs would be able to stock their produce while waiting for dispatches to proper markets unlike the current situation where they desperately sell just to clear the stocks.”
The cooperatives will be required to contribute 25 percent of the grants, according to the ministry, to ensure they have that ownership spirit.
The Southern Africa Trade Connectivity Project is a six-year, $150 million (K262.6 billion) World Bank-funded initiative aimed at boosting private sector activity along targeted corridors of Malawi and Mozambique.
