Comesa to link Malawi entrepreneurs

The Federation of National Association of Women in Business in Eastern and Southern Africa (Femco), an arm of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has placed Malawi among 10 African countries to pilot a Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) cluster development programme.

The programme intends to increase value-added goods and services for Malawi entrepreneurs for the products to become competitive on the international market.

Femco executive director Katherine Ichoya told Business News on Tuesday that the programme also aims at enhancing competitiveness and building regional productive and technological capacity.

Ichoya said they are focusing on cotton and agro-processing clusters.

“Through the programme, Femcom intends to enable women in SMEs to come together in clusters to minimise their costs and, ultimately, increase value-added goods and services in the regional and international markets,” she said.

The Comesa programme roll-out comes at a time Malawi entrepreneurs are struggling to secure reliable markets.

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learnt that there are over 50 million SMEs across the globe, but only 22 percent of them have access to finance.

Apart from Malawi, Ichoya, said the programme is being piloted in Burundi, Ethiopia, Eretria, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“Key focal areas include on-site technical assistance, training on processing, manufacturing methods, facilitation of business linkages among producers, processors and distributors in the Comesa region, employment creation, access to finance and enhanced food security,” added Ichoya.

She said the institution is implementing the Business Incubator for African Women Entrepreneurs (Biawe) project which she says is aimed at improving existing SMEs women entrepreneurs in Comesa region through capacity building activities and improved access to credits.

Ichoya said under the project, key focal areas include establishment of model business incubators, facilitation of an enabling policy environment for women entrepreneurs, among others.

Femco was established under the Comesa treaty—Women in Business—in July 1993 and has been collaborating with other institutions focusing on women in business.

Its mission is to develop women entrepreneurship in the Comesa region through programmes that promote, encourage and serve the needs of women and their businesses.