EAC plans business parks for small traders

A trader arranges his wares on a mobile stall on Jomo Kenyatta Highway in Kisumu. Most small-scale traders in East Africa lack access to affordable business premises. Photo/TOM OTIENO  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By NEVILLE OTUKI

In Summary

• Officials are betting on creation of business parks to boost growth of micro and small enterprises
• The new parks will be located in special zones with high business activity, easing the process of finding premises by East African nationals seeking to set shop in new markets
• Officials reckon that the new move will foster speedy integration of the East African block as business people from Kenya, Tanzania Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi trade their wares across their local borders

Small-scale traders in East Africa will have access to affordable business premises if a new proposal is adopted by the five member states.

With the bulk of those employed in the region being in the informal sector, officials are betting on creation of business parks to boost growth of micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

The new parks will be located in special zones with high business activity, easing the process of finding premises by East African nationals seeking to set shop in new markets.

Officials reckon that the new move will foster speedy integration of the East African block as business people from Kenya, Tanzania Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi trade their wares across their local borders.

It will also enable skills transfer along with culture exchange through increased interactions, lifting the competitiveness of the block after the enforcement of common market protocol in 2010.

The East African Community (EAC) secretariat is drafting a proposal asking each of the five partner states to set aside space for the construction of stalls for small business ventures from Kenya, Tanzania Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

The stalls will be hired at a subsidised fee, a relief to most informal sector traders who have continually been locked out of decent working space by high rental fees.

Speaking during the launch of the 14th edition of the annual EAC Jua Kali/Nguvu Kazi exhibition in Nairobi, officials said the new business parks would double as venues for the event which is held in the five countries on rotational basis.

“We will present a proposal to each state and hopefully get the project off the ground by next year,” said EAC Political Federation deputy secretary general Charles Njoroge in an interview last week.

Officials at MSE Authority, a new monitoring body of micro and small enterprises in Kenya, lauded the move saying the concept would prop up operations of small traders. “We are highly receptive to the idea,” the acting chief executive Patrick Mwangi said.

He said regional business parks would aid in the development of industrial clusters in which traders would benefit from economies of scale and agglomeration along with enhancement of competitiveness of traded products.

Business parks also stand higher chance of attracting buyers from outside the region as opposed to when venues are frequently changed.

The Authority said necessary structures had been set up pending the appointment of the MSE registrar, formation of a tribunal and setting up of a fund in which small traders would apply for loans as outlined in the MSE Act 2012.

“We expect to be fully operational early next year,” Mr Mwangi said.

The EAC secretariat holds that creation of designated business parks would significantly cut costs incurred in renting venues for Jua Kali exhibitions every year by host nations and eliminate uncertainty by participants.