The Indigenous Business persons Association of Malawi (Ibam) has called for a positive business revolution as one way of empowering Malawians to contribute meaningfully towards the development of the country.
Ibam President, Mike Mlombwa, was speaking in Blantyre during the first sensitisation meeting the association organised for its members presided over by Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Joseph
Mwanamvekha.
Mlombwa asked government to ensure that 70 percent of government business goes to Malawians so that local businesses have the capacity to contribute towards national development.
“We are calling for a positive business revolution.The whole idea is to enable Malawians have money with which they could pay more tax and help the Malawi Revenue Authority beat targets,” said Mlombwa.
He bemoaned the extremely high interest rates prevailing on the market, a development, he said, is making doing business using borrowed money almost impossible.
“Our lending structures need to be reviewed. You will find that a person borrowed K20 million from a bank and has repaid K40 million but still has K70 million to be paid back. How is this possible?” queried Mlombwa.
In his response, Mwanamvekha asked many Malawian businesses to join Ibam so as speak with one voice.
According to Mwanamvekha, associations have a louder voice when it comes to lobbying for policy changes rather than individuals.
“I think time has come that all Malawian entrepreneurs joined Ibam so that you have a unified platform through which you could lobby with one voice for some of these policy changes,” said Mwanamvekha.
He said government is aware of the various challenges the small and medium enterprises are facing in the country and that it [government] is doing everything possible to improve the situation.
The meeting was attended by officials from the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre, Malawi Revenue Authority, Malawi Bureau of Standards and well as entrepreneurs.
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