SME competiveness to be created in 2015

The Minister of Small and Medium-size Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts (MINPMESSA), Prof. Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, says the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) sector in the country has taken off powerfully and target in 2015 will be to consolidate achievements and strive to render them more competitive.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday December 3 after defending his ministry’s 2015 budget at the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly, Minister Etoundi Ngoa said looking at the magnitude of the SMEs sector, the number of people it employs and prospects, it would be but logical for actions to be intensified towards better developing and organising the sector.

With a budget of FCFA 12.359 billion in 2015 up from FCFA 11.777 billion in 2014, the Minister sounded upbeat that actions already begun in view of rendering the handicrafts and other SMEs sectors competitive will be pursued as well as engaging new ones. He said the fact that of the 2015 package, FCFA 7.346 billion will be geared towards investment speaks of their determination to make the SMEs sector a veritable purveyor of the country’s socio-economic development.

This will be through the upgrading, facilitating access to factors of production, building the technical and managerial capacities of SMEs to spur their productivity and competitiveness. Target is also to develop growth-oriented sectors so as to encourage the emergence of a healthy and competitive manufacturing SMEs sector.

The Ministry also envisages the promotion of private initiative and improving the business climate for SMEs to thrive. This will be by effectively implementing the E-registration project to computerise enterprise creation procedure.

“The informal sector will need to be improved upon and organised right from the council to national levels. Government is putting in money for all these operations and we think that with the good results we have had in the last two years, we are on a good footing and we hope to make them better come 2015,” the Minister said.