Brand marketing specialist and development communicator, Pierre Mare, has launched a unique online ecosystem , not replicated elsewhere, for larger enterprises to market to informal and microenterprises, called Minibiz7.

 

Minibiz7 is a platform for larger enterprises to make offers to IMEs. It also provides IMEs with enterprise development and business administration information, captured for reference as downloadable information sheets and on web pages.

 

The ecosystem consists of a mobile-compatible website with capacity for email, social media for IMEs and a LinkedIn site for participating large enterprises. Mare stresses that it is not a site from which IMEs can market their services. That role is currently filled by Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp. Minibiz7 is designed with the potential of larger enterprises to market to IMEs in mind.

 

The benefit of Minibiz7 is that it is a coherent platform from which large enterprises can participate in and grow their interest in the IME subsectors, by marketing product and finance offers. A coherent platform offers a convenient source of information that will foster the productivity of IME subsectors and their uptake of goods, services and finance.

 

Marketing of goods to IMEs is currently haphazard and seldom takes into account the unique needs of IMEs in terms of products and costing. And although there is a trend towards early adoption of financing mechanisms in the sector, there is limited marketing of finance, reportedly due to development of policies and structure, but likely compounded by risk avoidance and aversion.

 

The importance of finance is illustrated by the development of the high-growth Asian tiger economies which experienced a spurt of growth from the 1960s, driven by the capital resource of sale of agricultural land, migration to urban areas and establishment of informal enterprises. Given finance, Namibian IMEs can produce growth, however sale of agricultural land in communal areas is not possible, so the Namibian IME sector will be dependent on capital developed in urban households and lending from commercial sources.

 

Talking about the importance of support for Namibian IMEs, Mare says that despite high unemployment figures, individuals find means to support themselves or find sources of support in agriculture or the informal sector. The fact that a person is classified as unemployed in formal measures of employment does not mean that the person does not eat or cannot participate in economic activity. He points to car washes, sweet sales or youth side-hustles as examples of sources of informal income.

 

The need for IME subsectors support is underpinned by informal sector statistics that point to more 24% contribution to gross domestic product and 56% of employment. Current data on microenterprises of five or less employees is not readily available.

 

With 24,7% of GDP wrapped up in the IME subsectors, it is still possible to grow, and necessary to provide balance for the current trend towards capital investments that do not yield large-scale employment. By adopting a stakeholder approach, and participating in initiatives such as Minibiz7, the tide of unemployment and income inequality can be alleviated, Mare concludes.