By Kingsley Jassi:
Malawian authorities have been called to task to unblock existing barriers for real industrial revolution the country needs to achieve development goals.
Germany Ambassador Ute König and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Representative Fenella Frost made the call when they presided over the 9th and 10th editions of Growth Accelerator which they jointly support together with other partners to help scale up business ventures.
However, the development partners say while they are providing the support for entrepreneurship, the environment needs to be improved to allow growth while allowing more potential entrepreneurs and innovators to enter the market.
“The country needs to improve the business environment and, of course, on the doing business index the country can do better,” König said.
She mentioned the regulatory environment that still has bottlenecks, calling for seamless business registration to encourage more youths and female-led businesses to thrive.
König said German support has evolved in line with country priorities but stressed that the growth and job creation programmes remain priorities to ensure sustainable development of the country.
On her part, Frost echoed her counterpart on the need for authorities to ensure the business environment is cleared of existing stumbling blocks amid global challenges that have not spared the country.
“We really call on the country’s leadership to support an enabling environment and unblock some of the barriers and, of course, the best of all is the dialogue with the private sector
She said besides practical solutions UNDP and other partners are offering, there is a lot of collaboration and dialogue with authorities to address certain issues, acknowledging that the government appears to be listening to the voices, especially that of the private sector.
Minister of Industry and Trade Vitumbiko Mumba recently committed to supporting the local private sector in a bid to develop a strong local industrial base that substitutes imports and eventually boost exports.
The Growth Accelerator’s 9th edition prioritises innovation-oriented business ideas while the 10th edition is a preserve for female applicants and both editions are open for applications.
The programme identifies successful entrepreneurs for technical and financial support with up to $40 000 capital provision.
Growth Accelerator Project Manager Tambulani Chunga said the initiative has supported 97 ventures that have developed over 100 new products on the market, created over 760 permanent jobs while 1,200 have been indirectly employed while an estimated 54,000 people have been impacted by the businesses, according to the available programme statistics.
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