Business plan competition launched

The Private Sector Federation (PSF), in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy, launched a new Business Plan Competition (BPC) to provide technical support to innovative ideas.

Sunday, September 23, 2012
Entrepreneurs during the launch of Business Plan Competition last week. The New Times / John Mbanda.

The Private Sector Federation (PSF), in partnership with the Netherlands Embassy, launched a new Business Plan Competition (BPC) to provide technical support to innovative ideas.This is different from prior initiative, where the two institutions provided financial assistance to best business plans. Authorities said previous winners had failed to manage their projects, prompting the institutions to craft initiatives aimed at bolstering entrepreneurs’ ability manage business. The launch brought together more than fifty people from different associations and cooperatives and some few individuals who came to register their projects in the ongoing competition.Speaking to The New Times, Yvette Mukarwema, the Chief Operations Officer at PSF said, "We are going to do advocacy for the members to get technical support and financial support through banks that handle different sectors.”Since 2004, successful entrepreneurs have been getting both financial and technical skills, Mukarwema said,  but added that since last year it was a challenge to support cooperatives and associations that have proved to be competitive as some beneficiaries failed to pay back.