mbulelo smpofu
Nokuthaba Brita Ncube, ncubenokuthababrita@gmail.com
THE Government continues to demonstrate its commitment to women’s empowerment through the Women Development Fund. From January to September 2024, the Fund provided crucial support to 33 projects, reflecting the Government’s ongoing efforts to enhance women’s economic participation.
In the 2025 National Budget statement, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, highlighted that the projects funded through the WDF benefitted a total of 261 women and sustained 450 jobs.
“During the period January to September 2024, thirty-three projects were funded through the Women Development Fund, benefitting a total of 261 women and sustaining 450 jobs,” he said.
The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises, in its 2022 annual report, noted that the Women Development Fund supported 240 projects worth US$297 million. Professor Ncube also mentioned that a total of 76,741 women entrepreneurs across all provinces received training in diverse areas, including technical skills, business management, climate change adaptation, health access and life skills.
He stated that 5 228 MSMEs were facilitated to participate in local, regional and international fairs and exhibitions, including events such as the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), provincial and district agricultural shows, as well as regional market fairs in Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique and Tanzania. MSMEs are acting as pathfinders in regional and international markets through participation in exhibitions and fairs such as the upcoming Tokyo Expo 2025.
According to Professor Ncube, through the Start-up Business Advisory Program, 150 MSMEs were formally registered in 2024. He also highlighted that the Government is working with the Women Owned Business Trust and UN Women, including Praz, to promote the participation of women entrepreneurs across various supply chains in supplying goods and services to the public sector.
Professor Ncube said that the Government will continue to expand support towards SME initiatives and women empowerment through the capitalisation of the Zimbabwe Women Micro Finance Bank, EmpowerBank, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation and the National Venture Capital Company of Zimbabwe.
According to the Finscope Survey of 2022, Zimbabwe has 3.4 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) owned by 4,2 million entrepreneurs, employing 4.8 million people and contributing US$8,6 billion to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
