Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) held the official launch of the Financial Inclusion Framework Policy at the Gweru Memorial Library the 10th of September 2021.
The launch is part of a series of programmes being held in conjunction with CIPE Africa and seeks to enhance the business skills of Informal Economy actors as well as lobbying solution holders to incorporate the financial needs of the sector in national and local planning. Proceedings were held in strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols and saw informal traders from various suburbs of Gweru in attendance.
VISET Executive Director Samuel Wadzai welcomed participants saying the Framework Policy launch was a critical milestone in ensuring the growth and success of not only informal sector actors but the sector as a whole. Wadzai said it was a travesty that policy makers only considered formalisation of the sector from a financial extraction perspective without providing for its funding needs through prioritisation in procurement processes of government agencies and local authorities. Wadzai went further to say that this would bring to reality the devolution principle through localised procurement, there by mitigating unemployment and attaining formalisation of the Informal Economy.
Edward Kapodogo of the Programmes Department exhorted informal traders to be purposeful in all facets of their businesses such as record keeping and adoption of a savings culture if they were to be considered for financing by institutions. He also emphasized the need for professionalism within the sector in order for government agencies to listen the demands from actors.
With regards the way forward, Samuel Wadzai said they will be disseminating the Framework Policy along with the Training Manual to VISET members countrywide, before engaging with solution holders on implementation of the policy ahead of the national budget.
Source: VISET
