Standard Bank and Eni Rovuma Basin will increment support to SME
Standard Bank and Eni Rovuma Basin have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, recently, to implement a Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) development program, as well as for yje development of Mozambican startups in accessing markets, mentoring and business support services.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Index 2017, Mozambique currently ranks in the 123rd position in a total of 138 countries with favorable ecosystems for entrepreneurship, which means that the country has a long way to go in terms of creating and establishing a desirable entrepreneurship framework and the ecosystem needed to provide appropriate support to SME so that they can achieve the inclusion, stability and scalability expected.
As a result of this memorandum, the parties will collaborate in the support and development of an entrepreneurship ecosystem, including activities to stimulate the local supply chain, skills development programs and knowledge and expertise transfer to facilitate access to markets.
At the occasion, Standard Bank’s Managing Director, Chuma Nwokocha, explained that the memorandum is essentially aimed at promoting inclusive growth by developing an ecosystem that enables SME to exploit their potential and take advantage of megaprojects.
Through this partnership, “Standard Bank, as a bank established in the country for more than 124 years, will use its experience and skills to help SME grow and access markets”, said the Managing Director, who pointed out the bank’s Business incubator, as a project that has contributed not only for the skills development by Small and Medium Enterprises, but also to the advent of entrepreneurs, to whom essential knowledge and tools are conveyed for their easy insertion in the market including in megaprojects.
The program will consist of four pillars, namely: Ideation (promoting access to methodologies for conceptualizing business ideas and influencing a culture, which are more conducive to entrepreneurship); Incubation (Support to SME through mentoring and training to create and validate new businesses in sectors of national interest, not limited to the Oil and Gas sector); Acceleration (identifying SME with growth potential and supporting them to establish business links to address obstacles or challenges that hamper their growth), Inclusive growth (ensuring empowerment of women and young people and development of formal trade).
With a national coverage, the program will focus on the province of Cabo Delgado, specifically the city of Pemba, as a key region for economic development.