By Dean Chisambo
Government has commended Common Market for East and Southern Africa ( COMESA) for coming up with digital financial payments platform which will ensure the growth of financial inclusion and enhancing local businesses in the country.
Minister of tourism Vera Kamtukule made the sentiment when COMESA is conducting a three days sensitisation meeting with women who are involved in micro small and medium enterprises on Tuesday in Lilongwe.
Kamtukule said is very excited that women are doing cross border trade when the country is promoting industrialisation through exporting of the goods other than importing to ensure that they are effusing Digitalisation within the business that are existing at the moment.
She said:” it’s about sensitising the people in terms of advantages of digital financial transactions, I think it could have come at a better time than now to them because once you are transacting through digital does not need to move around hence you reduce your cost. When you are reducing cost it means you maximise your profit, I think it is very integral for small businesses like these to ensure that they are digitally connected.”
Kamtukule stated that theft, high cost of doing business and also inability for the small and medium business to be accessed by customers both locally and internationally remain a challenge saying but if they are digitally connected it is very easy to be accessible anytime and where.
She added that as a government they are taken task with the responsibility to ensure that the infrastructure that are available is promoting digital financial inclusion such as they need to put infrastructure in place, access to mobile phone and working hard in hand with the private sector like telecommunication companies.
In his remarks COMESA Business Council (CBC) Board President James Chimwaza said one of their focus areas for business is targeting micro small and medium enterprises hence they are trying to promote women and the youths to put them into the business arena.
Chimwaza further disclosed that there are quite a number of men who are already in micro small and medium enterprises saying they want to strike a balance in the business financial ecosystem.
He added that digital financial inclusion will help Malawi businesses to advertise and sell the goods to other countries in the platform through phone without travelling a long journey saying if their clients are satisfied with the the goods they can order and pay it and goods will be send to them, but also through the platform will going to show if the goods has arrived to make sure that there is no bribes.
On his part COMESA Business Council Chief Operating Officer Dr Jonathan Pinifolo said they are about to commission payment platform by the end of this year because they want to prepare the traders before the platform will be in place saying they will initially start with eight countries such as Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Ethiopia and Mauritius.
He said : ” the choice of the countries of course Malawi will be one of the priority country based on that fact we are looking at a trading corridors, so when you are looking at Malawi trades a lot with Zambia but also if you look at East Africa we got countries like Uganda , Kenya and Rwanda there are even in same space, North Africa we have got Egypt and Ethiopia, so that’s a choice of the countries and we are lucky that Malawi is one of the countries that will be part of the programme.”
Pinifolo lamented that they are at looking avoiding the use of United States Dollar (USD) notes when it comes to trade in COMESA region: ” if want to buy staff from Egypt or Zambia you don’t have to look for USD you just use Malawi Kwacha and that will be all, unless if it is going outside COMESA region.
” We are saying even as far as saving money is concerned you don’t need to go to the bank physically you do it with the agent because you are going to be intergrate with all service players within the industry.” He said.
Pinifolo revealed that they have put fraud management modules which will be able to trace fraudulent activities in the platform and they are doing awareness whereby they will know some sort of activities that may lead to fraud through the use of education programme as well as policy framework.
COMESA Women three days sensitisation meeting has brought together
delegates from the statutory cooperation, Malawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Women in Micro small and medium enterprises
