The Industrial Development Company of Eswatini (IDCE) Project Appraisal Officer Nontokozo Dlamini says their experience with SMEs in the country indicates that one of the reasons they aren’t able to access finance is because most of them are looking for funding in industries they do not have expertise in or understand.
Dlamini disclosed this during MTN Eswatini’s Financial Wellness Seminar held at the Mountain View Hotel yesterday.
The Seminar had a keen focus on attempting to understand why local entrepreneurs fail to access funding in the country.
To substantiate her point Dlamini made an example of most SMEs venturing into the logistics and construction sectors because they have been told by others that there is a lot of money in the aforementioned industries.
“As IDCE we strongly encourage small business owners to always conduct their own market research. They should not just venture into an industry based on hearsay. It is not about the industry, but the business proposition”
She further revealed that when it comes to access to finance, most financiers or lending institutions in the country are struggling to exhaust their budgets as there aren’t enough viable business plans or ideas presented to them.
“We are strongly willing to assist local entrepreneurs as we also want to efficiently allocate our budgets but the reality is the business plans presented to us aren’t viable enough,” she noted.
Furthermore, Dlamini advised and implored entrepreneurs to come up with new viable business ideas. She offered examples of industries that small business owners can consider, such as manufacturing, services industry, and ICT among others.
The IDCE representative emphasized that entrepreneurs should also look to businesses within a value chain, where they can add value.
Dlamini concluded by stating that the perception that they only provide funding for entrepreneurs with collateral is misguided. She acknowledged that collateral does play a role in the funding process but is not the determining factor, as a result, entrepreneurs with viable business ideas yet do not have collateral must approach them.