STRENGTHEN EMPOWERMENT MODELS, GOVERNMENT TOLD

STRENGTHEN EMPOWERMENT MODELS, GOVERNMENT TOLDBy JOHN KOMBECOOPERATIVES in Chongwe have called on the government to strengthen empowerment mechanisms of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).According to the cooperatives, some well-intended programmes have not reached the viable business entities.Chongwe Cooperatives Union (CCU) chairperson, Fred Mwendo, said an interview yesterday that most empowerment programmes had not reached the viable businesses because the criteria for eligibility had not been well-defined.He observed that government empowerment had more mostly gone to cooperatives that were formed just to access empowerment.Mr Mwendo said that this trend had not yielded any gains as some people took advantage of the call to access empowerment by forming cooperatives.He argued that most of the cooperatives and businesses that accessed government empowerment had nothing to show for what they received.“We had cooperatives that were formed in one day and accessed empowerment the following day. This must not be the case because we have viable and long-existing cooperatives that […]