MSMEs urged to adopt digital technologies
THE Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been urged to adopt digital technologies that will enhance their operations and contribute to economic development.
The just ended 28th Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) meeting in Maputo presented an opportunity for traders to devise ways of how to adopt digital technologies amid the many challenges the region was facing.
This is according to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Business Council chief operating officerdigital financial inclusion Jonathan Pinifolo in Maputo, Mozambique.
“This is an opportunity for most traders to see how they can adopt digital technologies like for instance when it comes to access to market information, how do they check their products and when it comes to payments as well,” Mr Pinifolo said.
He noted that the digital transformation was a driving force for innovative, inclusive and sustainable growth that would promote green industrialisation agenda. Mr Pinifolo also stated that African countries are ready for a comprehensive digital transformation strategy to guide a common, coordinated response to reap the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution.
“In the Information Age in which Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have eclipsed manufacturing technologies as the basis for world economic and social connectivity, people without access and other ICTs are at a social economic disadvantage,” he stated.
Mr Pinifolo also highlighted the need to revive the national and continental Development Finance Institutions with a renewed focus on supporting industrial growth.
“There is need to develop options for innovative financing mechanisms such as Public Private Partnership (PPPs) and special purpose vehicles,” he said.
Mr Pinifolo said this during his presentation on the “critical challenges of green industrialisation through the lens of private sector experiences”.
The United Nations Commission for Africa (UNECA) hosted an Ad Hoc meeting of the expert group of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts of Southern Africa under the “Greening industrialisation in Southern Africa through Digitisation, Infrastructure development and regional integration: leveraging African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation” in Maputo, Mozambique.
The “28th Meeting of Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Official and Experts” took place from 24th to 27th October, 2022.
The ICSOE meeting has brought together high-level government representatives from member states, private sector, academia, regional development partners and public policy thinks tanks as well as civil society organisation to discuss and share best practices on the path for African’s industrialisation agenda.