Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have a critical role to play in driving the industrialisation of the SADC region and even go beyond, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Frederick Shava has told the Seventh SADC Industrialisation Week in Harare.
SADC member states should recognise the potential of SMEs to create jobs, foster innovation, and contribute significantly to economic growth and so governments had to create an enabling environment for SMEs to thrive.
"It is exciting to note that the 7th SADC Industrialisation Week made deliberate efforts to incorporate our micro, mmall and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to showcase their products and services. This is coming at a time when MSMEs, as well as entrepreneurship, are in the spotlight, not only in the region but globally. Suffice to say, considering the entrepreneurial nature of our economies, bringing MSMEs on board gives impetus to the efforts to help them make inroads regionally.
"A development model that is inclusive and integrates this reality and nurtures the MSMEs, will ensure that the SADC region achieves a more sustainable industrial growth," he said.
There was need for the region to invest in human and financial capital to support the growth of MSMEs and the efforts countries made in creating an enabling environment for foreign direct investment should equally be spared for domestic investors.
The SADC Industrialisation Week is running under the theme: "Promoting innovation to unlock opportunities for sustainable economic growth and development towards an industrialised SADC."
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Minister Shava said the theme was relevant and timely as it resonated well with the growing trend in the global economic ecosystem, where nations were placing innovation at the centre of economic growth, development and industrialisation.
He urged SADC member states to fully use their natural resources to transform economies.
"It is imperative that we shy away from the old economic model of resource extraction only, and promote the development of value chains. Therefore, it is critical to put science, technology development and innovation to the fore of all efforts at economic development, if we are to optimally benefit from the abundant resources that our region is endowed with. Value addition and beneficiation will spur industrialisation, create quality jobs and high returns from the export of finished products," he added.
The minister also called for more investment in infrastructure to speed up the industrialisation process.
Infrastructure development should include capacities for digital connectivity and innovative business processes to reap the digital bonus of development.
"We should be alive to the fact that to achieve sustainable growth, infrastructure development must be accompanied by enhanced institutional and human resource capacities to sustain and improve the growth results."
