Small and Medium Enterprises Fetch Capacity in Growth and Competitiveness

Small and Medium Enterprises Fetch Capacity in Growth and Competitiveness. SEATINI Uganda has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (FSME) to enhance the growth and competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The 5-year partnership will involve training and capacity building, research and advocacy, conducting of sensitization drives and information sharing.

‘‘SEATINI Uganda and FSME signed the Memorandum of Understanding to ensure that our two organisations have clear and constructive engagements instead of a one-off engagement. This cooperation is very important because more than ever before, we need to grow our private sector and MSMEs.

Over the years, SEATINI Uganda has gained substantial experience in the area of research and this will enable us to jointly work together to ensure that the policies and regulatory frameworks are conducive for MSMEs and the private sector.

“This partnership will help us to amplify the voices of MSMEs in the different fora at local, national, continental and global levels,’’ said Ms Jane Nalunga the Executive Director of SEATINI Uganda at the signing of the MOU at FSME offices.

Ms Jane Nalunga also added, “today, we are getting out of the COVID-19 pandemic and we are all talking about a post COVID-19 economic recovery and for Uganda and the MSMEs are key to this recovery. There are also key processes going on the African Continental Free Trade Area and the enlargement of the East African Community among others. This requires us to position our private sector to ensure that as a country we benefit from these processes, create employment, industrialize, increase production to enable people to get out of poverty.”

Mr John Walugembe, FSME Executive Director said the Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises values their relationship with SEATINI Uganda.The fact that have signed an MOU means that we can goingforward engage in robust policy advocacy that will ensure we improve the business environment for MSMEs in this country and for businesses in general.

“We believe that when the business environment improves, everyone will benefit. Our collaboration also focusses on capacitating MSMEs with regard to standards, access to finance, access to markets,” Mr Walugembe also noted.

The other area of collaboration is with regard to negotiations because at the moment, the negotiations of the AfCFTA protocols are taking place and these are areas for input. Through our collaboration, we will ensure that the voice of MSMEs is heard. Overall, we believe that this collaboration is positive for the sector and for the MSMEs in this country. We could not have chosen a better pattern than SEATINI Uganda.

‘‘In terms of the state of the economy, it has been re-opened which is a positive thing. However, we now have a secondary crisis of high commodity prices and inflation. This is also a great area for FSME and SEATINI Uganda to collaborate on because we need to engage both the fiscal and monetary policy makers in this country to identify possible solutions and remedies for the MSME sector,’’ he said.