Policy-making must include stakeholders

Last week, the minister for Industry and Trade, Mr Innocent Bashungwa, revealed that the preparation for a new SMEs development policy “is in the final stages.”

This is well and good – especially considering that the extant SMEs Development Policy, which was launched by the government in February 2003, will have become outdated in this day and age of rapid technological and other advances.

SMEs – ‘small and medium (size) enterprises’ – are steadily becoming an important part of the Economy at large, contributing as they currently do a goodly 35 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

It is, therefore, not far-fetched for the participants in the closing gala dinner of the ‘Top 100 Mid-Sized Companies Survey’ in Dar es Salaam last Friday to call for the inclusion as a matter of course of SMEs owners-cum-operators in development policy formulation.

As reported in The Citizen yesterday, the founder and chairman of the Infotech Investment Group (‘Infotech’), Mr Ali Mufuruki, commended the government of President John Magufuli for planning to come up with a new SMEs development policy. But, he stressed the prudence to have private sector players fully participate in the formulation processes.

How right Mr Mufuruki is. He was the chief guest at the event, which was the climax to the Survey that was mainly sponsored by the CRDB Bank Plc – and which is the brainchild of Mwananchi Communications Ltd and KPMG International, Tanzania Office.

Indeed, the owners-cum-operators of SMEs are well-versed in business operations, and are familiar with every nook and cranny in the world of business. Involving them in policy-making will, therefore, go far in ensuring the making of informed decisions.

That’s why we do not hesitate to urge the relevant decision-makers in Government and elsewhere to always ensure that they include stakeholders in formulating policies that have a direct bearing on their spheres of operations.