BY SIBUSISEKILE NDLANGAMANDLA
MANZINI– The European Union (EU) has challenged Eswatini’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to move beyond survival and build competitive businesses capable of accessing international markets.
EU Delegation to Eswatini Chargé d’Affaires José Becerra said MSMEs needed to become more productive, understand their operating costs and use technology, data and innovation to make better business decisions.
Becerra was speaking during the Powering Profit Symposium in Manzini on Wednesday, held under the theme “Rethinking the Cost of Doing Business in Eswatini.” He said global competition was changing rapidly, with technology, energy security, resource efficiency and climate change increasingly influencing how businesses produce and trade.
“Businesses that can process more locally, add more value locally and compete beyond Eswatini’s borders,” Becerra said. Access to international markets is also becoming increasingly dependent on businesses demonstrating quality, efficiency, traceability and sustainability.
These changes presented both risks and opportunities for a small economy such as Eswatini, stressing that the country needed to create an environment where businesses could grow beyond the MSME stage.
“The development challenge is therefore not simply to help an MSME survive. It is to help that MSME become an enterprise capable of competing in the economy of tomorrow,” he said. He called for stronger cooperation between Government, the private sector, financial institutions and development partners to create an ecosystem that supports businesses through infrastructure, technology, skills, finance, energy and access to markets.
Becerra also pointed to opportunities for local businesses to expand into international markets through EU-supported programmes. He said the EU’s work with the International Trade Centre (ITC) was supporting MSMEs with product development and market access, including opportunities to tap into the European market under the EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement.
Thee EU is also supporting initiatives such as CREATE, which promotes renewable energy and energy efficiency as tools for improving business competitiveness. EU’s long-standing partnership with Eswatini had helped develop productive infrastructure and strengthen value chains.
The focus must now shift towards building businesses around these investments so they could increase production, expand processing and value addition, generate income and create sustainable livelihoods.
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