Small and medium businesses are key drivers of growth in any economy. And, in the case of Rwanda, small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) are arguably the second biggest employer after agriculture. The sector represents about 90 per cent of the total businesses in the country. This means it has huge potential to help significantly slash the unemployment rate, especially among the young graduates and other youths. However, its contribution to the economy is being undermined by a myriad of challenges that continue to weigh it down. SMEs are struggling under the weight of poor business management skills and practices, limited access to affordable credit, lack of innovation, among others. Key stakeholders such the government, financial institutions and the Private Sector Federation (PSF) need to urgently intervene to save the situation. If SME operators lack the requisite skills to run their enterprises, at best, their businesses will stagnate and, at worst, collapse. This means loss of jobs and revenue for owners and the government. That’s why it is essential that PSF, government, banks and insurers, among other stakeholders, increase their interventions to support the sector to help it grow and become more profitable and sustainable. With a well-performing SME industry, everyone is a winner; government gets more revenue in form of taxes; the owners’ income increases and more jobs are created. This, in turn, improves people’s quality of life and helps stimulate growth. However, SME operators should not sit back hoping that someone else will have to intervene to save their business from going under. They need to work harder to improve the quality of their services, maintain discipline, be more innovative, learn from best practices and leverage their connections if they are to keep their business afloat. Otherwise, one can have all the money they need, but if they lack the necessary skills, discipline and a sense of purpose it will all go to waste.
