Ministry dares SMEs to spearhead innovations
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism has dared Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to take the lead in coming up with innovations that can boost the productivity and growth of businesses.
The ministry’s spokesperson Wiskes Nkombezi said this in an interview on Sunday when responding to the question on what government is doing to help SMEs increase their productivity through innovations.
“Government is doing its part, but it is not enough of course. As government, we cannot solve every problem that SMEs are facing because there are so many.
“SMEs should realise that if they want to invest, they should not wait for government. There are certain innovations that do not need government support,” he said.
Nkombezi advised SMEs to consider applying for grants from the Malawi Innovation Challenge Fund (Micf), which is sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
A write-up from Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute (Smedi) observes that one of the reasons that derail SMEs to bridge the gaps and challenges they face in accessing export market is lack of innovations and technologies that can help them in the poduction of quality goods fit for the international market.
“Most of the products manufactured in Malawi hardly have space on the international market due to compromised quality standards. Most of our SMEs are lagging behind on innovations and technologies that can bridge such gaps,” reads the write-up in part.
A United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) report noted that Malawi, which is among other 46 least developed countries (LDCs) in the world, should focus on advancing entrepreneurship to grow the economy. n
