Small-Scale Miners Welcome SME Ministry
Small-scale miners on the Copperbelt have expressed their enthusiasm about the creation of the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) hoping it will enhance the growth of their businesses.
During an interview in Kitwe yesterday, Chapamo Mining Limited Executive Officer, Kelvin Tembo said the creation of the Ministry gives the small-scale miners and traders a place where they can present their challenges and receive guidance.
Mr. Tembo has since appealed to government through the new Ministry to help miners access financial resources to expand their operations.
“We are hoping that government will provide some form of funds through the Ministry or help us access funds from financial institutions at an affordable rate as issues of financial access had been the biggest challenge to our growth,” Mr. Tembo said.
He explained that historically it has been difficult for small and Medium Enterprise’s (SME) to operate due to a lack of external funding and urged the government to either provide funds for SMEs or help to find investors that would be willing to go into joint ventures with small-scale entrepreneurs.
Alliance for Zambia Informal Economy Association (AZIA) General Secretary Lameck Kashiwa further suggested that the government should incorporate the traders under the mandate of the new ministry. Mr. Kashiwa pointed out that for many years traders have been entangled between the regulations of both the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Local Government which has prevent it from flourishing. He hopes that placing traders under the SME industry will help to make them more efficient.
“There is need to remove the notion that one needs to reach a certain level of capital to qualify to be a Small-Scale Entrepreneurs, traders should be incorporated under the small and medium entrepreneurs so that they can benefit from the incentives that will be provided under the new ministry,” He stated.
The SME Ministry was established by President Hakainde Hichilema during his first round of cabinet appointments last week. The department, headed up by Elias Mubanga, is aimed at fostering private sector growth in order to deliver on Hichilema’s promises of more jobs and greater economic prosperity for Zambians.
By providing government support to small businesses in the mining sector, Hichilema’s government may hope to undo much of the damage suffered by the mining industry through the creeping nationalisation of the previous Patriotic Front government, including the effective takeovers of Mopani Mines and Konkola Copper Mines.