Helping businesses to expand

The Commonwealth Secretariat and Uganda are creating greater opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to win public sector contracts.

An ‘Access to Procurement’ (A2P) programme was developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat in a joint initiative with the Ugandan Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA). The programme gives SMEs the vital skills needed to tap into the public procurement market – where businesses can tender for contracts to sell their goods and services to a public authority.

The project, sponsored by the Secretariat, was executed by Nichols Training Limited, a London-based SME Procurement Consultancy, and their Ugandan partner, accountancy firm Edes & Associates. They produced a detailed research report on the challenges facing SMEs in accessing the procurement market, which was then used to design a course for procurement practitioners to train SMEs.

Charles Ocici, the Executive Director of Enterprise Uganda, who spoke on behalf of the Uganda Minister of State (Investments) at an event to mark the end of the SME training phase on 3 December, said the government was seeking to partner with the private sector to come up with sustainable programmes that would fast-track the development of SMEs.

“The Access to Procurement Programme is a sustainable programme that we are keen to see succeed,” he said.

“Research shows SMEs are not getting a fair share of government procurement. With this initiative, the PPDA is taking on the challenge of helping SMEs in a practical way.”

The 3 December event in Kampala was attended by 85 guests who included representatives of SMEs, buyers from various public bodies, executives from business support organisations, senior officers of the Ministry of Finance, and the media.

Training SMEs

The training course for SMEs focused on the procurement system, bid preparation, marketing and delivering the contract. During the course, SMEs had to complete an actual bid and demonstrate that they understood the material before receiving their A2P certificate.

Commonwealth Secretariat Adviser for the Special Advisory Services Division, Roland Charles, said: “We have trained 18 new procurement specialists, who will be the backbone of our effort to help SMEs develop new skills. These trainers trained 104 SMEs in two weeks.

“These businesses have the potential to create good quality jobs and add value to Uganda’s economy. The A2P programme will open the doors to contracts worth millions of shillings/dollars offered by the public sector.”

Francis Bainomugisha, who runs a translation company, said they were unaware that through the PPDA they can have access to over 100 procuring entities, and were now formulating plans to target those who could need translation services.

Kinawataka Women Initiatives director, Benedicta Nanyonga, added that they would now look to the public sector as a new customer base for their products - handbags and other items made from recycled drinking straws.

Anant Parmar of Sigma Knitting Industries said bulk orders for items such as uniforms for school pupils and public sector staff could help the company compete with cheap imports.

Danish Dulo, managing director of Betidan Consulting Engineers, commented that the training had provided him with new skills with which to expand the company’s public procurement order book.

Mr Ocici thanked the Commonwealth Secretariat for sharing Uganda’s national vision of fighting poverty through strengthening the SME sector by sponsoring the A2P programme and many other SME development projects.