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ESWATINI FOCUSING ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS TO PROTECT YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

By Qondile Ntiwane | 2021-06-13

The government of Eswatini is putting much focus on intellectual property rights to ensure the work done by young people is protected. The country is also looking to see how this can be commercialised beyond the region in the Southern African market.

This was part of the submissions by Minister of Commerce, Industry and trade Manqoba Khumalo, who was part of the panellists during the virtual Horasis Global meeting, 2021 ‘Africa: The World’s Engine of Growth. Part of the issues deliberated during the meeting was that Africa had the world's youngest population and would soon represent one-fifth of the world population.

It was stated that the continent was poised to become the world’s engine of growth. reforms The meeting also touched on how to implement economic reforms and attract investment to make the African miracle a reality and also how digitalisation, as key driving force for innovation, can transform the continent into a global economic powerhouse?

Minister Khumalo mentioned that one big investment by the Kingdom was the establishment of the Royal Science and Technology Park, which is a combination of a data centre that is now housing local and international which want to do data based business out of Eswatini.

He added that the RSTP was also an incubator centre nurturing and promoting local small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly focused on the youth. technological skills “We are making sure that young people of Eswatini leverage on the technological skills because we realise that the economy of the future is digital.

The RSTP is also complimented by the Bio technology park that is already providing a lot of intellectual properties, which we are converting into business opportunities hence the focus on the intellectual property rights,” he said. The minister said the government of Eswatini was happy with the advent of AfCFTA because it opened up the African market to a very small economy and small country looking to leverage an economy driven-economy.

“We are currently, as a country sitting with about 60-70 per cent of the young people not employed and one of the things we have realised as a key success factor is to open up markets from the region to the continent and beyond. road map “We see the AfCFTA as one such viable that will transform the forms of the country.

In particular we have the strategic road map 2019-23 that outlines a few sectors of the economy as key focus areas but within that we have look at how youth employment and youth entrepreneurship should be at the heart of all the programmes that we drive,” he said. Minister Khumalo further explained that the country had also created a special economic zone which looks at driving free foreign exchange controls as we are encouraging exports.

“As a country with a population of about one million, we are looking at access to finance for local SMEs and the youth as main enablers and we have also worked with organisations such as the World Bank and UNDP for capacity development.

“One of the key things that become an inhibitor to youth entrepreneurship is access to finance and as a result we have launched a number of revolving funds including the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund and SME revolving scheme run by the banking and non-banking institutions and the young people are taking full advantage of these funds,” he said.

He added that government was also looking at how they can launch digital platform under the A eTrade that will e-connect local entrepreneurs producing both physical and digital goods and services to trade across the continent. Khumalo also touched on the COVID-19 post Recovery Plan, stating that at the centre of the plan, they had come up with policies that would ensure that local procurement in infrastructure, in the private sector and other sectors of the economy are pro-young people and pro- local SMEs.

He noted that the plan has also seen the private sector come to the party, where a number of initiatives that could have been, prior to today, led by government and government agencies, being led by combined effort of the private sector He also expressed excitement at the launch of State Business Relations programmes, a platform he said would allow government and the private sector to interrogate issues together in a collaborative effort, particularly with labour as well as the civil society sitting around the table and discussing how the private sector could lead the economic turnaround in Eswatini.

“We really believe that for the kingdom to rise to the level we aspire, it has to be a private sector-led economy. We are also encouraging foreign direct investments but are making sure that we equate the level of opportunity that these new jobs are bringing to the capacitation of local young people in particular. “We believe strongly that the future belongs to the young people, fully aware that intra African trade is hovering in the region of 15-17 per cent, and therefore presents amazing size of opportunity and we as Eswatini are ready and looking forward to lurching on to the AfCFTA using some of the programmes I have outlined,” he said.

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