2023-07-10 08:41:34
• The threats and opportunities for the SMEs in question
• Financial support for five projects
• 13 billion granted to SMEs from 2012 to 2022
According to the SG of the Ministry of Commerce, these are 13 billion granted to SMEs in ten years. (Ph: Yvan SAMA)
Experts and analysts will tell you to what extent micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) constitute the economic fabric of many countries, like Burkina Faso. According to them, nine out of ten companies are, in fact, SMEs and these employ 70% of the population. The United Nations confers on SMEs the crucial role of eradicating poverty by 2030. Many other reasons added to these were enough for the international community to institute, in 2017, a World Day of MSMEs, celebrated since then every 27 June.
“Transformations of local economies: role and resilience strategies of Burkinabè SMEs in the context of security and economic crises”, it is under this theme that was launched, this June 27, in Ouagadougou, the celebration 2023 Burkina version of this World Day. A celebration organized by the Agency for Financing and Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (AFP / SME), which attracted the world to CENASA where the launch ceremony took place.
Winners of the SME competition pose, trophies and checks in hand, with the officials of the ceremony. (Ph: Yvan SAMA)
By choosing the theme of the resilience of SMEs in the current context of Burkina, an “evocative theme”, according to the president of the National Organizing Committee, Sylvie Coulibaly, it is a question, she says, of “questioning threats and opportunities for our SMEs” which, according to official figures, contribute 40% to GDP. Representing the Minister of Trade, Fidèle Ilboudo, Secretary General of the said ministry, added that the choice of this theme was justified by the fact that “in recent years, SMEs have faced multiple crises of endogenous and exogenous origin, which require them to develop initiatives to develop their capacity for resilience”. Development initiatives, the Burkinabè government has already been doing for ten years, as indicated by the Secretary General of the Ministry in charge of trade. The SG of the Ministry of Commerce, in particular, cited the orientation law for the promotion of SMEs and the Charter of SMEs adopted to support the emergence of dynamic SMEs, through provisions “advantageous in terms of taxation, l access to public procurement, access to financing and land”. It is within this framework that the government, through AFP/PME, granted more than 13 billion FCFA to SMEs for the period 2012-2022”, explained Fidèle Ilboudo. In the same vein, the AFP/ME, he says, has trained more than 14,000 SME actors, which has made it possible to create and consolidate 4,000 jobs. “Whether formal or informal, these MSMEs create wealth for the economy, employ, help families to feed themselves properly and ensure the education of their children,” acknowledged the Minister’s representative. And to invite innovation, the creation of a business environment conducive to SMEs, especially, he said, those owned by young people and women. As proof of the government’s support for the development of SMEs, a project competition, organized by AFP/PME, was included in the menu for the commemoration of World MSME Day. A total of 57 projects were submitted to a five-member jury which selected 10 projects to award five of them, namely the three best projects for the official prizes, the best projects led by a woman and the youngest for special prices. Candidates were subject to criteria of age (18 to 35 years for men, unlimited for women), financial viability and socio-economic impact of the projects, among others.
And at the end of the jury’s deliberation, the five prizes were all won by women, as if to testify to the dynamism of the other half of the sky in the entrepreneurship sector.
Beyond the launch ceremony of the edition and an SME competition, many other activities marked the 2023 edition of World MSME Day in Burkina. Indeed, lovers of entrepreneurial things were treated to panels, an exhibition of products and services of SMEs from different regions of Burkina, as well as a networking cocktail. All this, in the spirit of sharing experiences and models of resilience, with a view to a better contribution of SMEs to local economies.
Béranger KABRE (Collaborator)
framed
The winners of the SME competition
1st prize: Rosalie Korsaga, with the project to strengthen integrated fish farming in Bobo-Dioulasso.
2nd prize: Madeleine Dabiré, with the project to improve the hairdressing offer with the use of cotton threads as an alternative to wicks and wool.
Marie-Claude Bembemba is the winner of the 3rd prize with her project for a production unit and processing of honey and derived products into soap and wine.
Special prize for best youngster: Pricile Ouoba is the winner with the fish farming project “Fight once morest hunger in Saaba”.
Special prize for best candidate: Alah Foundfonsi Mathe with her agri-food unit development project in Saaba.
The three winners of official prizes receive respectively 500,000 FCFA, 400,000 and 300,000 FCFA, and each a trophy, a certificate and the possibility of a start-up loan of 2.5 to 5 million FCFA. The winners of the special prizes each obtain 300,000 FCFA, a trophy and a certificate.o
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