Improved SMEs skills may reduce poverty, says LDF
The Local Development Fund (LDF) said Malawi’s high poverty levels may be reduced if Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) acquire the right skills.
LDF executive director Sam Kakhobwe said that weak enterprise culture has to some extent contributed to poor local economic growth.
He said this during the closing ceremony of training of trainers’ course in Blantyre on Friday, which was being implemented under the Local Economic Development (LED) project with financial assistance from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Malawi Government.
Kakhobwe said that the LED project aims to contribute to pro-poor growth and poverty reduction through improving social and economic well-being of the population.
“The LED project has several components one of which is deepening enterprise development. Initiatives under the deepening enterprise development component focus on areas including association building and savings mobilisation, business development services, and capacity building for business development providers,” he said.
The five-day training workshop, included organisations such as Community Savings and Investment Promotion (Comsip), National Association of Smallholder Farmers (Nasfam), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute (Smedi), Malawi Industrial Research and Development Centre and Umodzi Consulting were taken through new and innovative business tools to enhance their capacities.
The training was facilitated by a UK-based consultancy firm Executive Solutions Limited.
Executive Solution managing director Veronica Broomes, said in an interview, said the participants were trained in skills, including what it takes to create a mind of an entrepreneur, branding and financial management.
