The African Development Bank Group has approved a $1 million grant to boost local content and development initiatives of Mozambican Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
The grant, from the Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund (YEI MDTF), will provide technical and institutional assistance to the Institute for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, IPEME, for direct support to start-ups and SMEs, with a particular focus on young and female entrepreneurs.
The YWEB Start-Up Mozambique Project with IPEME will be a multi-sectoral local content initiative focused on tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, ICT, health, and transportation.
The purpose of the funding is to facilitate supply linkages between such initiatives and large companies, including government entities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Solomon Quaynor, African Development Bank Vice President in charge of Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization said the project would improve job creation, linkages between local SMEs, and youth and women empowerment.
“They are in line with the Bank’s core objective of supporting private sector development in Africa, notably by promoting local entrepreneurship, developing value chains, and supporting SMEs that represent the bulk of Africa’s economic fabric,” Quaynor noted.
The project will also support more than 150 local businesses by facilitating access to skills and certification, contracts with large companies and financing from local financial institutions, said Country Director Pietro Toigo.
“These partnerships demonstrate a strong commitment by the Mozambican government to support local businesses, communities and create jobs, particularly in the north of the country.”
IPEME, which in English stands for The Institute for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, is a public entity under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, aimed at boosting and developing small and medium enterprises.