Importance of SME Development in Africa: They Will Produce Africa’s Middle Class
Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are talked about a lot in the framework of growing unemployment and high population rates as the region rushes past the billionth person population mark (most of whom are under 30). There are a number of international forums, which have focused on developing Africa’s SME sector focused mostly on two elements:
- SMEs are vehicles to employment and job creation.
- SMEs are key to the region’s entrepreneurial environment needs.
But what else are they? What else needs to be further highlighted? What can those who seek to support their growth do better? We all agree that SMEs — just like big businesses — start with a vision, an idea, or fulfill a need in a community. But fundamentally, SMEs play a critical role in nation building, nation advancement, and a nation’s innovativeness. Development in Africa cannot happen without them; growth cannot happen without them; socio-economic paradigm shifts cannot happen without them; and poverty cannot be reduced without them. They are what produce a country’s middle class. This is their development enterprise role.
Whether one is in West, East, South or Central Africa, the sectors needing development or expansion are the same — agriculture, infrastructure development (power and transportation), manufacturing, and information technology. But SMEs bring other innovativeness to the table especially for the heavily-populated African urban areas, where cities in the region are expected to grow by 4-5 percent over the next decades (http://tinyurl.com/SSAUrbanGrowth).
