Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) has trained 100 Small and Medium Enterprise Traders equipping them with skills on adherence to local authority regulation and importance of licensing through the five-month project funded by Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) in the Sizimele Consortium, titled Market Aggregation – COVID-19 Vendors Response – Market Access Project.
The project observed that most vendors and informal traders and SMEs do not have licenses which results in selling at undesignated places or conflicting with local authorities as they confiscate wares of those who sell at undesignated places. The training enlightened the SMEs on the importance of being licensed.
Speaking in one of the trainings, the facilitator Mr Witness Mzizi, who is also member of BVTA said in business common things are for common people, but in order to be successful one must learn to swim with the sharks.
Customer-care was described as one of the key factors to business success by Mr Mzizi as it maintains customer retention and determines the growth or demise of a business.
Mr Mzizi further stated that a business person must always have a business plan, a deep thought when purchasing, buying and pricing products and a book of records for record keeping.
“I now know that I have to have a plan for my business, set a goal and be accountable so that I have direction,” Tinashe Gwena told Vendors Voice after the training.
“Record keeping has always been a challenge for me, I did not know how to manage my records, however I have learnt more about it from the training”, Concilia Nyathi told Vendors Voice.
“I have also learnt not to depend on one product, I am taking a step forward towards growth”, continued Nyathi.
“Obtaining a vending license is important because it gives one dignity and saves vendors from being chased by municipal police,” added Debrah Mukasa, a BVTA officer.
The training funded by ZRBF was an eye opener for SMEs in that they need to grow their businesses and register them as well as attain licenses in compliance with the city by-laws and change of behaviour, attitude, and reduction of the spread of the corona virus.