E250M BOTTLED WATER IMPORTED TO ESWATINI

MBABANE – There are numerous investment and business opportunities in Eswatini and bottled water is one of them.

Bottled water is drinking water packaged in plastic or glass water bottles and may be carbonated or not, for purposes of resale. The total average imports to Eswatini amount to over E29 billion in the current financial year and bottled water was billed at E250 million. Economist Thembinkosi Mavimbela viewed this as an opportunity for the private sector and micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to decrease imports. He said Eswatini was capable of producing and supplying bottled water to the market without the need of importing. “A number of companies already have water vending machines that dispense purified water into containers,” he said. The economist said this type of business was imperative, as bottled water was consumed by almost 60 per cent of the population. He said the business was self-marketing; as there was huge demand for the product in the local market, hence the E250 million in imports. “The fact that E250 million that has left the country should be an eye-opener to local businesses with interest in bottled water,” he said.

Opportunity

Mavimbela added that this was also an opportunity for the unemployed with financial difficulties; he said a proper business plan could lead them to proper financing. “Some of the youth in our country is of the view that employment is the only means of survival, yet filling market gaps goes a long way,” he said. The government has various financial schemes to assist MSMEs, especially those owned by the youth in attaining capital funding for their businesses. They said these schemes have enough funds to finance capital projects for the youth, but they receive fewer applications and are not properly structured. The poorly structured applications are rejected as per the norm of the application process, thus contributing to the funds remaining stagnant. These financial institutions have attested to have rejected about 68 per cent of applications because they did not meet the criteria needed to be awarded the funds.

One of the key issues highlighted collectively is unclear details of the form of business requesting funding and management structure. The schemes said the business plans they received were almost similar in details per constituency, which proved lack of attention to details, thus affecting funder’s confidence. This was mentioned during the sharpening entrepreneurship skills among the youth workshop last week at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade.

Apply

SEDCO’s CEO, Khethiwe Mhlanga encouraged MSMEs to apply the knowledge and skills they had acquired from their training so that their businesses could grow and be sustainable.
“The knowledge you have gained in this training is an investment to your businesses because the skills you have acquired will help you to correct some of the mistakes that you have made which will make your businesses more sustainable,” she said. Mhlanga also encouraged the participants to reach out to SEDCO at any point in their entrepreneurial journey, because SEDCO offers an array of services and products for MSMEs.

Advice

“When you start to feel like your business is in trouble and you need some business advice, please visit SEDCO. We have qualified business coaches and counsellors that will help guide you and point you in the right direction” she said. SEDCO also supports entrepreneurs with registering companies, attaining trading licences, developing viable business plans and applying for funding, business incubation, marketing and recently, developing website and company emails. EswatiniBank has introduced funding for enterprises that are involved in farming. This was mentioned by the bank’s Agri-business manager Mazibuse Khumalo during the horticulture innovation platform at Royal Villas.

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