COTE D’IVOIRE: Help For Small Businesses Key to Relaunching Economy

• by Fulgence Zamblé (abidjan)
• Monday, August 01, 2011
• Inter Press Service

The government allocated 13 million dollars to this task on Jul. 15, prompted by the fact that the private sector in Côte d'Ivoire is dominated by micro-enterprises and a vast informal sector, according to the Finance Ministry. A further 74 million dollars of support for the country's banks was announced a few days later by Finance Minister Charles Diby Koffi, in order to allow financial institutions to support businesses with loans.

The ministry estimates the contribution of small and medium-sized enterprises to the country's gross national product at around 18 percent; SMMEs together account for around 23 percent of formal employment.

Alassane Ouattara's victory in presidential elections in the West African country in November 2010 was challenged by the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo; a lengthy standoff followed, brought to a close when the Ouattara-aligned Republic Forces of Côte d'Ivoire marched from their strongholds in the north of the country to seize the economic capital, Abidjan, in April 2011.

Restoring the economy

'The relaunch of the economy is one of the government's priorities. It's imperative to support SMMEs and avoid not only an explosion in the rate of unemployment, which is already more than 25 percent, but also to encourage business owners to pursue their activities,' says Michel Koné, inspector of public finances at the Finance Ministry.

Business people like Florent Amédée are the target of the interventions.

Accompanied by three of his employees, Amédée, 38, began clearing up the mess at his two furniture stores on Jul. 17. The stores, in the southern Abidjan district of Marcory, were abandoned three months ago: the windows are still shattered, the wrecked premises flooded with rainwater.

'We will reopen in the next three or four weeks. By the time orders placed in Europe and Asia arrive, we have to have our shop back in order,' he explained to IPS.

According to Amédée, his business employs 32 people, among them five contract workers. Surveying the damage caused by looting at the end of March and April, he estimates he suffered a loss of around 76,000 dollars.

'I was forced to lay off all my workers without a penny at the end of March and they've received nothing since. Now, there's hope after the government's announcement, and we have returned to take our place, hoping that things will be better,' he said.

His delivery driver, Ousmane Kamara, is overjoyed to return to work. 'We work to feed large families. So when we don't get a salary for two months, it's truly catastrophic,' he says. Kamara supports a family of six on his monthly salary of about 185 dollars.

In Cocody, a neighbourhood in the east of Abidjan, Sandrine Dagou, 43, saw her supermarket gutted. Her deliveries in the third week of March as well as goods on the shelves were carried off. The total value was around 22,000 dollars.

'The looters didn't leave behind so much as a tin of sardines. If the supermarket is up and running again, it's in part because I've drawn on my own savings,' Dagou told IPS. 'My staff of 13 has suffered over the past two months. Half of them have returned to work now. With support from the government, we will invest and bring everyone back.'

At the height of the confrontation between pro-Gbagbo and pro-Ouattara forces at the start of April, many businesses, including those of Amédé and Dagou were looted, and around fifty have closed their doors, according to the Business Confederation of Côte d'Ivoire. It estimates the losses at around two million dollars.

'The losses are truly significant and it will take a year, even two, for Côte d'Ivoire to resume growth,' says Issiaka Sangaré, an economist based in Abidjan.

But he said that the programme of support for SMMEs can only succeed if there is a minimum guarantee of security. 'The country must restore security. We are presently in a situation where many men are carrying arms and there is still harassment and extortion. This doesn't reassure business people and enterprises.'

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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