Dr Cyril Chami
The government has affirmed continued support for local entrepreneurs in building the culture of establishing new investments involving risks as well as in sharpening their creativity and confidence in running business successfully.
This was said in Dar es Salaam at the weekend by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Marketing, Dr Cyril Chami, when closing a six-day training on entrepreneurship for local businessmen organised by Small Industries Development Organisation (Sido) in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade Development (UNCTAD).
Dr Chami said the government recognised the importance of entrepreneurship development in the country and it equally accorded priority to its strengthening.
He stressed that the government was committed to supporting any endeavor by entrepreneurs which had positive socio-economic development and good impact to the people.
“May I also confirm the government’s readiness and availability to support all entrepreneurs in their activities,” he said.
The Minister said entrepreneurs offer a variety of goods and services making the country’s economy resilient and less vulnerable in times of economic crisis. He said Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) were increasingly appealing as vehicles for industrialisation and accelerated development.
However, he said, despite the fact that SMEs were crucial in facilitating economic development; they were beset with numerous structural and individual problems constraining their ability to play the pivotal role expected of them. The problems include small capital, their small size, high risks and low productivity.
Dr Chami mentioned factors contributing to failure of SMEs in the country as management incompetence, lack of experience, poor financial control, customer credit unworthiness, over investing in fixed assets and lack of vision.
He urged participants to apply skills they gained at the training in creating a better and conducive working and environmental relationship they would all need in facing the challenges of globalisation as well as those coming with the implementation of the East African common market protocol.
“I strongly urge you to immediately put into practice what you have learnt and establish a national association which will help in strengthening and sustaining your businesses,” he said.
According to him, cooperation among SMEs would help their businesses and business organisations shared best ways to run firms efficiently as well as help them in sharing solutions to problems and challenges they continue to face.
Speaking earlier, UNCTAD representative to Tanzania Rossene Lorenzo said his organisation had conducted a number of training programmes in recognition of SMEs’ importance in the development of the country’s economy.
He said, through the organisation’s Empretec programme, local entrepreneurs had been inspired to start new businesses, achieve more growth and run production as well as services efficiently.
Lorenzo said the Empretec network had been extended to 32 countries and had so far assisted over 200,000 entrepreneurs. “In Tanzania, UNCTAD has successfully conducted an inception phase of Empretec installation since 2008,” said the UNCTAD representative.
He added that one of the immediate objectives of the programme was training 400 entrepreneurs through Sido, the host organization for Empretec in the country.
In their joint statement read by one of them, the participants thanked the government and UNCTAD for preparing the course. They also requested the government and other development partners to assist them in accessing loans for expanding their business operations.
According to organisers of the training, more than 27 participants from different parts of the country participated on the course and were awarded completion certificates
.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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