Project creates 950 Jobs, saves forex
The Business Acceleration Youth Project has created 950 jobs and opportunities for businesses and extended support in local value chains to save foreign exchange expenses.
Funded by United States Agency for International Development (USaid), it is implemented by International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (Ciat) and targets small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have moved beyond the business start-up phase and can no longer grow based on the reinvestment of internal revenues.
Through the project, USaid has provided grants of $2 500 (about K4.25 million) and matching grants of up to $75 000 (about K127.5 million) to 30 entrepreneurs who are ready to expand their businesses.
Speaking in an interview on Friday, Africa Agriculture Holdings Limited (AAHL) chief executive officer Oliver Nyasulu Thole, one of the beneficiaries of the programme, said the project has trained at least 500 women and youth-led businesses and helped to increase their scope of coverage from 1 050 farmers to 23 500 farmers and in the process boosting their production.
He said: “Our business model promotes access to quality seedlings because when local farmers have high yields, we can buy from them at a cheaper price locally.
“This helps us save on our forex expenses because we do not have to import these raw materials.”
AAHL produces high-quality cassava seedlings for smallholder farmers to boost their productivity in the cassava value-chain.
In a separate interview, Kettie Chisambi, a representative of the SMEs, urged her fellow women to explore the initiatives under the programme and similar initiatives that create opportunities for women to facilitate Malawi’s move towards gender inclusion.
USaid deputy office director for sustainable economic growth Madalitso Kaferawanthu expressed optimism that the project could be used to improve women’s access to capital and promote economic inclusion.
She said increasing women’s access to capital is widely considered a solution to Malawi’s long-standing problem of women’s exclusion in the formal economy.
Said Kaferawanthu: “Accelerating women-owned businesses will have a ripple effect, benefiting not only the entrepreneurs but also their families, communities and societies, ultimately improving Malawi’s economy and household resilience.
“Private sector-led development is crucial to the growth of Malawi. We need to invest in these businesses to boost production, so that we can in turn boost local exports.”
Ministry of Trade and Industry Principal Secretary Christina Zakeyu commended USaid and its partners for supporting local micro, small and medium enterprises, adding that the move complements government initiatives to catalyse economic growth.
She said the USaid projects complement the initiatives undertaken by the government to promote women entrepreneurship, such as the business order initiative to improve women’s access to entrepreneurship opportunities in both the government and the private sector.
Said Zakeyu: “These opportunities exist. It is just a matter of the women organising themselves and working with institutions like Usaid to capitalise on them. What we also like is that they [Usaid and Ciat] are working with farmers and organising them in cooperatives.
“We [the Ministry of Trade and Industry] encourage cooperative movement and are optimistic that the work that they are doing and the products they are producing will complement Malawi’s drive to agricultural commercialisation, productivity and value-addition.”
So far, USaid is also providing at least 46 SMEs with technical assistance, mentorship and expertise through the business acceleration programme.
