By Alpha Abu
Representatives of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) groups are engaged in a two day national stakeholder dialogue forum at the Brookfields hotel in Freetown aimed at establishing a common platform for enhanced coordination and economic growth.
The event organised by Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDA) is addressing a wide range of issues including the role of Ministries, Departments and Agencies as partners in SMEs coordination and development and the mapping out of strategies for strengthening the partnership as well as coordination and implementation of those strategies.
SMEDA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shaka Sannoh told the gathering that the Agency was focused on capacity development, developing of business services and having round table engagements with SMEs and partners. He said SMEDA wants to see an improved SME landscape and spoke about the training of over two hundred SME operatives in 2019 through a collaborative effort between SMEDA and the Local Content Agency. Access to Finance and capacity building were some of the challenges SMEs face and hence the need for the engagement, he said.
Sannoh talked about the need to develop policies and coordination mechanisms that fit the specific needs of SMEs.
The CEO also spoke of action by SMEDA to introduce to school pupils the idea of managing a business by the setting up of 15 entrepreneurship clubs in schools in Pujehun, Bonthe, Magburaka, Makeni, Kabala, Kambia and Port Loko.
He said SMEDA has succeeded in ensuring that entrepreneurship be included in the school curriculum beginning the new academic calendar this September, in a broader effort to inculcate the practice of entrepreneurship in young people.
He also spoke about the implementation of the pilot phase of the Munafa fund for SMEs which has so far supported 4,324 beneficiaries, 3,350 of whom, he said, were female.
Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Francis KaiKai in his statement, pointed out that more concentration of support to SMEs in the urban areas, uncoordinated approaches, politicisation and unguaranteed repayment of loans which recipients have often viewed as reward for their political allegiances, were some of the challenges that the sector had faced over the years.
The Minister described the forum as timely and said there was clear need for SMEs and partners to nurture coordination in every sphere of their interactions. Dr. Kai Kai asserted that there is a strong political will by the new direction government of President Julius Maada Bio to empower the sector by aligning the government’s Medium Term Development Plan to SME activities.
The Deputy Governor II of the Central Bank, Alhaji Yaya Sesay admitted that access to finance had been critical in the operations of SMEs and urged for products that will suit their businesses. He made reference to the issue of loans and disclosed plans to have the conditions for accessing such funds be eased or modified to include other collaterals like vehicle and some household appliances.
Deputy Minister of Finance, Dr. Sheku Bangura said the forum was an encouraging development, and emphasised his ministry’s premium on the growth and operations of SMEs.
Member of Parliament Veronica Sesay who chairs the House Committee on Trade and Industry said there should be sound micro and macroeconomic policies, prioritising of women’s participation, and providing value addition support for SME products through improved technology, packaging and branding. Vandi Lansana from the Traders Union in his input to the dialogue, called for more financial support so they could expand their businesses.
Other officials including Trade Minister Dr. Hinga Sandi, Youth Affairs Minister Mohamed Bangura and Rashid Conteh from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other partners from the EU, highlighted their institutions’ position on having a coordinated SME system in Sierra Leone. The event ends today Friday 6 August 2021.
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