‘Lack of business clinic hampering SMEs’ growth’

The Association of Water Well Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP) has identified environmental challenges, lack of business clinic and other problems associated with the Coronavirus pandemic as major constraints to the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

AWDROP National President, Mr Micheal Ale, who raised this concern when he featured in a National Television Authority’s programme titled ‘Weekend Deal’, noted that the government should not be totally blamed for MSMEs’ failures generally.

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Ale argued that many business owners lacked requisite knowledge on how to write an acceptable business proposal that will offer them various opportunities.

He explained: “On the aspect of small scale businesses I will just talk on what is the problem with SMEs now, what has COVID-19 done to them. Do they have any business clinic? Do they have an environment where if their businesses fail, they can come up with something? This has nothing to do with government, it has to do with us, it has to do with us realising that business can go bad.

“There should be a kind of a shock to that business, and if that business goes bad what happens to the SMEs? These are private initiatives, the government can make banks give no collaterized, none interest loans. I have some banks that can do that. SMEs should look at the opportunities.

“There is no business that grows anywhere for anyone if you don’t have the knowledge behind that individual. It means you still need to engage someone who will help you to put up a proposal to a bank, government or anyone who is interested and wish to fund the business”, he added

Even then, the water drilling expert charged the federal government not to provide basic amenities that will enhance small businesses and other informal sectors.

Ale maintained that “if the government is looking at the opportunity of creating more jobs, developing the economy and making the livelihood of poor people better, then it should look at creating big markets through the big walls that would have different big companies which would pick up perishable agro commodities and then we can look at having industrial parks and the rest where all these things can be taken off.”