Eswatini Government Creating an Enabling Environment for MSMEs and Investors to Thrive

By Veli Gamedze

In a highly anticipated address to the nation, the outgoing Prime Minister of Eswatini, Hon. Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, in his end-of-term statement said the government continues to support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) through the establishment of Funds and Schemes. This is notwithstanding the many economic shocks that continuously constrained economic activity.

“During the term, a E45 million MSME Revolving Fund was established. The Informal Traders Revolving Fund launched by the previous Cabinet, was also implemented, while the Small-Scale Guarantee and Export Credit Guarantee Schemes were recapitalized,” he said.

The Prime Minister emphasized government’s commitment to creating a business-friendly environment that can attract both local and foreign investments. “In a bid to achieve one of the goals of the Strategic Roadmap, which is to create an enabling environment in which emaSwati, investors and strategic partners can thrive, Government has made significant milestones to improve ease of doing business to attract investment. These include the 24hr operationalization of the Ngwenya / Oshoek Border Post,” he reported.

Recognizing the indispensable role of access to finance for start-ups, the Prime Minister said government has established an array of support mechanism made specifically for small businesses. He highlighted the progress made in the past few years to foster an ecosystem that encourages small business development and their long-term sustainability through government partnerships and persuading a range of measures to facilitate the growth of these enterprises.

The Prime Minister said that through the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund – Eswatini (YERF) approved loans amounting to E17million were awarded to 325 young people, creating over 1000 jobs for young people. Government also successfully launched the Eswatini Youth Empowerment Programme with UNDP and the Insika Yensha Youth Empowerment Programme with Taiwan, among other programmes.

Over 350 quality standards were developed to help MSMEs access international markets. Other achievements include the launch of the Eswatini Trade Information Portal; the amendment of regulations for the Eswatini Stock Exchange and introduction of an electronic trading platform; the amendment of the Trading Licences Act to reduce the number of days to register a business.

On the economic front, the Prime Minister reported that despite many economic shocks that continuously constrained economic activity and reversed the gains accrued in past years, Eswatini’s economy showed strong resilience during the past five years. Real GDP growth averaged 3.4% in the period 2019-2023, improving from a growth of 1.7% between 2014–2018. (Click here to read the country’s Recent Economic Developments)

Government undertook to create at least 10 000 jobs per annum and to make Eswatini an export-driven economy. In this statement, the Prime Minister reported that this target was surpassed, as 53 415 jobs were created, 6 410 of which came from Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), 5 341 from expansions and 41 664 from Domestic Direct investments.

As a private sector player, Pinaco & Co (P&C) is committed to increasing this number through its contribution to the development of the country’s startup ecosystem – one of which is the Startup Hub. With the new Government set to take office in the next few weeks, P&C will continue advocating for start-up ecosystem assessments, development and implementation of a national start-up ecosystem strategy and the periodic publishing of start-up ecosystem reports which will enable Eswatini to contribute to global data metrics, thereby creating basis for a global investment case for the country’s startups.

End of this month, P&C in collaboration with the Eswatini Stock Exchange will host a Webinar titled, “Raising Capital on the Eswatini Stock Exchange” curated for entrepreneurs who desire to learn about capital raising opportunities for startups available on the Exchange. Click here to register for free.

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Veli is a Marketing Communications Intern at Pinaco & Co and has a B.A in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Eswatini. He joined Pinaco & Co through an Internship Programme that is open to all university students throughout the year. Click here to read more.