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Enhancing the capacity of women entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe

It is important to build the capacity of female entrepreneurs so that they effectively participate and benefit from the regional integration agenda with regards to trade; build their  knowledge to produce export quality goods and encourage/promote networking among women in business.

A number of institutions including the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise development provide a range of training (or coaching) which is critical for women in business. The training includes product branding, labeling, negotiation skills, sales techniques, marketing using social media, writing contracts, drafting winning business proposals and customer management.

angle-left Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development

Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development

The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development is guided by one of its policy priorities; women empowerment. Its mandate is to promote the participation of women through relevant legislation policy and programs in all sectors such as financial inclusion, access to local, regional and international markets and capacity building of women in various sectors.

The ministry is also mandated to create an enabling environment for SMEs development through policies and programs such as access to markets, finance, work space and technology, business management training and business incubation.

  • The ministry, facilitated the participation of women to exhibitions such as the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, Mine Entra, Zimbabwe Agricultural Show and the Sanganai/ Hlanganai Expo through provision of exhibition space.
  • The ministry is implementing the COMESA Simplified Trade Regime with Zambia and Malawi at four border posts, Chirundu, Kariba, Victoria Falls and Nyamapanda. The program is aimed at facilitating and formalizing cross border trading activities by small traders through the use of simplified customs documents for products listed on a common list of products agreed upon by participating member states. 
  • The ministry has also trained cross border traders on Simplified Trade Regime (STR) and trade regulations so that women in business make use of the COMESA Simplified Trade regime.

The ministry carries training programs in technical and managerial skills to improve business operations for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) throughout the country. The target (as at 2019) is to train SMEs in areas which include costing, record-keeping, entrepreneurship, patenting and branding, marketing, quality assurance, start and improve your business, stock control, proposal writing, bee-keeping among other business management courses.A total of 24,341 MSMEs were trained in 2018 throughout the country’s 10 provinces in various business management courses.

Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) training

Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) training is one of the key strategies implemented by the Department of SMEs in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development to promote the development and growth of the SME sector in Zimbabwe. This is in recognition of the fact that lack of business management skills for SMEs, particularly for start-ups and those in the micro and small-scale category is hindering their potential for growth

The training is not generic but demand-driven aimed at addressing specific needs of SMEs at a particular point in their operations.  Training needs assessments are carried out and appropriate training is conducted to address specific gaps identified taking into account the fact that the SMEs need to spend more time at their workplaces.

The training material is mainly adapted from the ILO Start and Improve Your Business content and the digital platform.The following areas are covered during the training:

  • Business Planning
  • Costing
  • Financial Planning
  • Managing Finances by MSMEs
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Procurement within MSMEs
  • Quality and Standards Awareness
  • Business Registration
  • Public Procurement

Contact information

Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium  Enterprise Development
8th floor Kaguvi Building Cnr Central Avenue and Simon V Muzenda St, Harare
Tel: +242 708398/701103/250364
Web: www.women.gov.zw 

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