African MPs to focus on SMEs

Yesterday’s morning session of the International Conference on Private Sector Development focused on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) development in Africa and the reforms that could enable SMEs to flourish. While the delegates appreciated the role small businesses play in economic growth, they agreed that their lack of success in Africa was mainly due to the lack of access to good business management practices. Other challenges that African SMEs face are a poor regulatory environment across the continent along with low access to finance. Business executives in attendance helped shed light on what reforms are required to improve the sector. Consolata Ndayishimye, the chairperson of the East African Business Council and chair of the Burundi Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, suggested that reforms need to address the financial challenges and also focus on the regulatory and policy environment. “These reforms need to tap into modern technology because it is one of the biggest challenges to establishing incubators. Governments should also attract foreign investments that can help access and absorb new technology,” Ndayishimye said.“Another reform that we need is the enhancement of business reporting services. The SMEs should be encouraged to establish sector associations where they can do advocacy work”. She also noted that reforms should look into infrastructure gaps by considering the construction and rehabilitation of rural roads to facilitate movement of goods from rural areas in addition to access to electricity. Nelson Tugume, the CEO of Inspire Africa, a business reality show, who was invited to share his views, believes that MPs’ role in enabling private sector development should be increased and emphasis put on educational reform. “We must shift from churning out job seekers to job creators. We need to produce problem solvers, and not philosophers and white-collar job managers.” Ebenezer Essoka, the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank South Africa, took on the MPs saying most of them were part of the problem. Explaining his sentiments, and responding to the moderator, Kenyan MP – Ntoitha M’Mithiaru, Essoka explained that he was not disrespectful but simply “passionate about the subject because I am a son of the soil and I speak with the interest of the continent at heart”. “I think that parliamentarians are great. But my question for you is, are you aware of the global developments regarding banking supervision? If you are not, then you are not competent enough to talk about the challenges banks have in financing SMEs. “My proposal? Educate yourselves! Motivate the World Bank and the IMF, the IFC, and others, to run sessions and educate you on global governance issues,” he suggested. The forum brought together global parliamentarians, donors, and representatives from the private sector and civil society. The Kigali conference was convened to take stock of the private sector environment in Africa and examine steps African nations, and their parliamentarians, in particular, can take to promote sustainable private sector development that facilitates inclusive growth.

National

African MPs to focus on SMEs