Mon, 10 Apr 2017 12:01:05 +0000
By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
THE Patents and Company Registration Agency (PACRA) has in the first quarter of 2017 registered a total of 7,322 businesses, comprising of both local and foreign firms.
PACRA chief executive officer Antony Bwembya said out of the 7,322 businesses registered as at 31st March 2017, 2,616 were local firms while 4,706 were foreign entities.
Mr Bwembya said in an interview that most of the local firms registered were Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
He also said the introduction of new reforms in 2017 such as accessing credit using movable property as collateral had created confidence among local businesses.
“This initiative has been introduced in order to enhance capacity of small and medium enterprises to access loans. This is a Government initiative aimed at assisting small businesses access credit finance.
“The reforms, which have taken place this year, is the introduction of the movable property security register which is a registry for the registration of any transaction where people pledge as collateral any movable assets,” he said.
Mr Bwembya said PACRA was confident that the new initiative would assist local companies grow their businesses as they would easily access credit.
He explained that banks and micro lenders had come on board to lend credit using the new initiative. “Off course it is still early for us to see a significant change in the ability of the SMEs access finance but we are very optimistic that within one year we should be able to see a change.
“We hope that this registry will introduce confidence in the financial sector and as a result increase availability of funds to the SMEs to grow their business,” he said.
Mr Bwembya urged lenders to start assisting businesses access credit using the new initiative.
