Duplication ‘kills’ local handicraft market
The Swazi Observer, Swaziland
DUPLICATION of products, especially handicraft, has somewhat killed the business.
It is important, therefore, that those in the handicraft sector, get to be ahead in understanding their competition and be at par with the rest of the world.
A consultant is in the country for the next three months, courtesy of the Swaziland Investment and Promotions Authority (SIPA), to level the ground on the challenges faced by the SME sector.
The consultant, Stanley Ansong, will be working hand-in-hand with a core-team of 15 stakeholders, who will be advising him as he investigates the challenges faced by the SME sector in the country.
During the launch of a ‘Diversification and Enhancement of SME Competitiveness’ yesterday, Ansong said he had already identified some challenges faced by the handicraft market in his few days in the country.
He said those challenges were mainly based on marketing and production, adding though that the impacts varied.
He explained that marketing involved three components, one was pricing, the other quality and lastly duplication (which he said was hidden).
Ansong said the Swaziland handicraft market faced competition from countries such as China, South Korea, India and other African states.
However, he said the problem had been duplication of products by competitors, where they would copy these products cheaper and sell them at a high price thus killing the local market.
“Let’s ask ourselves what the up and coming company is going to do in such a situation. How will it compete into the market if it doesn’t even know the market? If you do not know the market and you rush into it, you are going to collapse,” he said.
The consultant said he had also discovered that there was insufficient market information dissemination in the country as well as lack of national enthusiasm. He added that there was also lack of market preferences as well as unnecessary freight charges and documentation.
“What is needed is to go though the supply chain,” he said. Ansong said research and development design was also lacking.
“If somebody is copying all the time, what you need to do is run faster. Let’s ask ourselves how long do we keep that product in the market? Get rid of it so that you can create a new one. He made an example of the automobile market, saying if Jaguar created a model in 1997, it was likely to get rid of it by 2000 because of a new product. He said mostly, people did not buy old models from the dealer but would rather buy second hands from other people.
Minister of Enterprise and Employment Lutfo Dlamini, on the other hand, thanked the Commonwealth Secretariat for their support to the country in its bid to develop its SMEs and assist them generate wealth for themselves and the nation.
“Government believes that our SMEs will take the bull by the horns and succeed despite the competition at the market place,” he said.