SAT, ARIPO, AU and ARSO Meeting on the sidelines of the 9th COMESA Business Partnerships Forum and Linkages Fair in DRC Congo 22nd,February 2014

The meeting discussed ways of promoting the development and growth of small Businesses in Africa and at the same time increase industrial competitiveness of the indigenous industries.

The discussion focused on the creation of a platform to revolutionize and modernize the SMEs Sector towards supporting the Continents social economic development agenda by creating jobs, generating wealth and attracting both local and foreign direct investments

Specific perceived Roles of the collaborating Partners would be;

v  Research and Development Institutions: technology, product design and development

v  ARSO: Standardization of parts and components

v  ARIPO: Protection of innovation and branding of products

v  CBC-SMEs Workgroup: identification of SMEs entrepreneurs and products

The above discussion involved:-Mr. Richard N. Muteti, Chairman COMESA Business Council SMEs Workgroup and Chairman, SME Africa Trust, Mr. Fernando dos Santos, Director Genera Africa Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), Treasure Thembisile Maphanga, Director, Department of Trade and Industry, African Union Commission and Dr. Hermogene Nsengimana, Secretary General, African Organisation for Standardization.

THE 9th COMESA BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS FORUM AND LINKAGES FAIR- 21st-22nd , 2014- KINSHASA, DRC.

A MERGER BETWEEN BUSINESS AND INNOVATION ;

Integrating Competitiveness for  supply and value chains in the COMESA Region

 The upcoming 9th COMESA Business Partnerships Forum and Linkages Fair will be hosted in the sidelines of the 17th COMESA Heads of State Summit. The event will be held from the 21^st-22^nd of February 2014, in Kinshasa DRC, under the theme: The Merger Between Business And Innovation; Integrating Competitiveness For Supply And Value Chains In The COMESA Region.

The event brings together the key manufacturing Associations, leading international, regional and national companies and the Small and Medium Enterprises from the 19 COMESA member ountries.  The focus for 9^th COMESA Business Partnerships Forum and Fair will be promoting supply chain and value chain integration in the region, and harnessing innovation, technology for competitiveness. Issues for discussion include: 

·         Improving Efficiency through Regional Value Chains;

·         Innovation and Technology- leveraging technology for competitiveness;

·         Boosting Investment for Agriculture Sector;

·         Partnership for Profit and Competitiveness-Corporate Social Investment for Value;

·         Exploring Investment Opportunities for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing of Generic Drugs;  

·         Protecting authentic African Products and Dealing with Counterfeit and Parallel Imports.

 Various speakers from leading companies, private sector Associations, SME’s in the region have been invited to present and  lead oral discussions on the various topics. The intended outcome is to identify best practices, constraints and  propose solutions that will be used as advocacy positions on behalf of industry at the COMESA Summit; and also boost trade and private sector development.  

Richard N. Muteti

The Chairperson

COMESA Business Council SMEs Workgroup

Koinange Street, Cianda House Rm 220

P.O. Box 6101-00100 NAIROBI, Kenya

Blog: comesa-smes.blogspot.com

Burundian SME Artisans visits Kenya on an Exposure and training tour

SME Stakeholder Brief:

 

Twenty two (22) Burundian SME Artisans under the Confederation of Informal Sector Organization- Burundi Chapter visited Kenya between 28^th October and 2^nd November 2013 on an exposure and training mission.

The delegation included Artisans drawn from  the following sectors:

·         Sculpture

·         Painting

·         Leather

·         Furniture

·         Basketry and,

·         Metal Fabrication.

The Artisans were hosted by the Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali Associations and were attached to various Primary SME Associations across the country were they shared experiences and learned new  skills in their areas of interest.

The above is a joint initiative of the KCB Burundi, AHD ,EA-CISO and SMES-EA among other partners aimed at a regional exchange programme for the SME Sector in the East African Region.

COMESA Secretariat organizes for a validation workshop for the COMESA Regional SMEs Policy Strategy Paper 20th -21st Lusaka, Zambia

The above is informed by the fact that while COMESA has made significant strides in addressing barriers to trade, little has been done in the area of BUILDING PRODUCTIVE CAPACITIES for LOCAL INDUSTRIES to exploit the opportunities presented through elimination of the same.
 

For this reason and in line with the theme of the recent Summit held in Kampala Uganda 2012, COMESA has developed a draft policy  strategy paper for the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which will be a guiding framework for member states seeking to support and develop the sector.

Richard N. Muteti

Chairman, COMESA Business Council SMEs Workgroup

P.O. Box 6101-00100 Nairobi Kenya

Email: rnmuteti@yahoo.com / juakalisector@yahoo.com / info@smeseastafrica.com

COMESA SMEs AND THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR.

COMESA region is composed of over 440 million consumers, with an increased GDP of 518 Billion US$ as of 2011. Intra COMESA trade has increased to 18.4 BN US$ as of 2011. The region is dominated by Small and Medium Scale enterprises(SMEs) who constitute about 90% of the private sector of the member states in the COMESA region, just as is the case in many economies of the world. SMEs provide most of the employment in the economies of member states especially among vulnerable sectors of society and are crucial players in the attainment of the public policy objectives of poverty eradication and wealth creation.

The prevalence of SMEs in COMESA economies and the promise they hold for promoting the attainment of key public policy objectives mean that SMEs will be a focus as major beneficiaries of the major areas of cooperation in COMESA. The development of SMEs is therefore an important priority in COMESA.

SMEs in manufacturing have a presence in the following sectors- food and beverages, tobacco, wood, paper, refined petroleum and coke, rubber and plastics, glass and other non metallic metals, basic metals. In Resource Based Manufactures, there are textiles and Apparel, Leather, Publishing and printing, Fabricated metal products, Furniture. In low technology manufacturing there are in chemicals, machinery and equipment, office machinery, electrical machinery, Radio, TV and communication equipment, medical , precision and optical instruments, motor vehicles.

When looking at the challenges in the manufacturing sector, empirical analysis revealed that African countries are very dependent to resource based manufacturing. In 2009, it accounted for about 49% of both total Manufactured Value Added and Manufacturing Exports in the region. This dependence makes the sector vulnerable because it involves relatively low value addition, exporting countries are exposed to external price shocks, exhibits low productivity growth and there are fewer linkages with the sector and the rest of the 3 economy. Secondly, the manufacturing sector in Africa is dominated by small firms who also very weak in terms of numbers and average size. Thirdly, domestic firms also have weak technological capabilities and are embedded in fragmented learning and innovation systems.

Most important to note is that within the SME based firms, one finds low interaction at firm level. This is with the exception of firms that are involved in industrial clusters. It is for this reason that clusters are now viewed at firm level as important to enhance firms’ competitiveness, cooperation, innovation, learning and skills development and the overall promotion of Small and Medium Size Enterprises. Based on international experience, industrial clusters play a key role in manufacturing because they make market access easier, are characterized by pooling of labor, facilitate technological spill-overs , and create a more conducive environment to joint actions.

Regional Integration has been seen as critical to fostering manufacturing development. Building robust, competitive regional markets in COMESA and the larger Africa, unlocks manufacturing potential . How is this done? When African countries, especially those who trade within a single market or customs union target their regional markets as buyers of their manufactured products, this approach permits firms in the region to exploit economies of scale and garner the experience needed to successfully face global competition. Through the Regional platform the COMESA offers, facilitation of development of other markets that are complimentary to industrial development becomes critical to boosting competition in the region. These markets are financial markets, transport and infrastructure, ICT, science technology and innovation among others. 

During the 8th COMESA Business Forum 2012, the private sector recommended to the 16th Heads of State Summit, the need to form a manufacturers’ technical workgroup that would represent their interests at the regional level, and contribute and influence the ongoing deliberations at the policy organ level on barriers to trade, competitiveness and intra trade promotion. The Forum also recommended that the CBC should support the SME sector to link with the manufacturing industry in the region, in the spirit of boosting Intra- Africa Trade.