[TOP STORY] Realising the might of SMMEs within SADC

0:00Money web now on the money. This podcast is brought to you by Stanlib Asset Management, invest in more certainty to navigate volatile market conditions. One thing that recently concluded 46th at SETIC summit should have done is put small micro and medium enterprises at the heart of its agenda. The case of SMMEs creating jobs and economic growth has been made time without number, yet coordination remains. And arguably at infancy stage, we speak now to phasel keys and managing executive for business development at EPSA Business about this. Thank you very much, phasel, because you penned an opinion piece about this. So SETIC much like the rest of the continent is not short of strategies promoting SMMEs. What is your observation of what was done yesterday and what is being done today to realise the full might of SMMEs in SETIC tomorrow? Good morning to do. Thanks very much for the opportunity and good morning to your listener.

1:00So in essence, what we are arguing in terms of our own observation is that there is no doubt that for the continent and also for the SETIC regions to make progress and deal with some of the challenges that we see are talking about high levels of unemployment for youth and also promoting growth. It is going to be very important that this time around we do justice in terms of making sure that the policy guidelines that are out with regards to SETIC SMME development and competitive strategies are implemented in a coordinated way so that we can deal with some of the historical things that have held us back compared to other regions in terms of progress. Our SMME sector can very well be argued that when it is informal in nature and when you speak of policy you have got this whole debate of national interest versus regional interest. We are not as harmonised as we should be and so how do we think around that?

2:01In essence, there is nothing wrong in essence with regards to member countries competing for progress but what we are arguing, at least from our perspective, given our observations because we have businesses in the SETIC regions. With clients there we engage them. We get to see opportunities and things that they have to deal with. Our argument in this instance is upside that there is a room for making sure that we understand the value chains and then we can optimize on core competencies of each country so that the SETIC region can benefit in that in essence because we all know that what works exceptionally well in Botswana might be different in terms of a country like Mozambique for instance and what we are saying is that the SETIC countries needs to make sure that they are able to optimise in terms of their core capabilities and in the process if

3:01there is leverage in terms of collaborating and in a structured way working with a member country in such a way that you know both countries can benefit. We believe that we have a perichands of making progress as a reaching if we are able to do that and then obviously our population and our people can benefit as part of this process and we see it in some of the programs that we run to saying there is more to collaboration in a structured way, organised way to make a difference as opposed to one country dealing its own challenges on its own because what you also find is that the challenges of SMEs and these regions are very similar so putting our minds together, working together, being in a clear way in terms of how we solve some of these things and we have a perichands of making progress. Fair enough, where in the world are they getting it right? We are SMEs thriving and contributing to economic growth. I think that there are enough studies I think that we see particularly

4:03in the east I think we've seen quite a bit of that. I might just say that if one looks at East Africa, there is clear evidence that we are making some good progress there in terms of development, in terms of technology, ability for people, business people and entrepreneurs to develop products that are able to transform their nation. I think we've seen quite a bit of that in countries like Kenya and Tanzania for instance and there is a lot of interesting things that are developing in terms of that economy in line with technological developments and I think those things are very stimulating in a sense that they are able to make life easy. For everyday people that are wanting to venture into businesses so that they don't have to navigate some of the complexities that we sometimes see in the market and over and above that obviously it's going to be unfair to compare some of the emerging economies like

5:06ourselves in terms of strategic regions with regards to EU and we know that in EU because of time and development and investment that have happened over time in terms of those markets, they are able to do a better job in terms of export contribution for SMEs and job creation is much more stronger but it's a question of time. We believe that with structured plans and aligned government support we will get there over time. I'd like for us to expand on your point of structured plans. There is an argument or rather let me put it like this. Oftentimes you hear that SMMEs have a big problem with accessing finance and then there's another side of the coin where you find that though you may support SMMEs financially not all of them will scale rather not all of them will succeed. They need more than just financing right so it's about getting your compliance right it's about getting as much information as possible about all aspects of the business and

6:07maybe we can speak more on that when you speak of coordination and helping SMMEs grow. Is it just about finance? What else is needed to help SMMEs scale to realize this industrial development that we speak of as a region? Yeah I mean we are absolutely correct to do so it's just not one principle. I think if one looks at the recent policy document that came out of Sadek it's very clear that it's not just going to take one thing to make everything work so I think if one looks at the some of the key highlights of the plan that we have now is that access to market is going to be very important because once you are able to produce a specific good you need to find buyers for it you need to understand how do you take your products into those markets. Obviously in some instances access to finance is one of the key things that that needs to be unlocked for those who don't have access so that they can be able to move with their businesses. Obviously other structural things like for instance the regulatory environment, legal and policy framework

7:12in terms of coordinated way across the site of the kitchen becomes important because one of the challenges that we know is that there are barriers to entering some of this market even if people are interested in doing cross-border trade they need to be able to navigate some of these complexities and hours working with some of our partners in business our aim is very simple to make sure that we can be able to put our resources together so that we can unlock the value for SME because they don't have the resources and the muscles that we have as large cooperates our duty is to make sure that we can simplify some of these things and help support mental skills development so that they can be able to succeed over time. Thank you so much sir for your contribution this morning. Faizone Kise is managing executive for business development at Absor Business. This podcast is brought to you by Stanlib Asset Management invest in more certainty to navigate volatile market conditions.