Absa Bank Moçambique

Representatives of 40 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) were, between October 2020 and February 2021, trained in financial management, within the scope of a partnership between Absa Bank Mozambique and MozUp (the Business Development Centre of Area 4), aiming at equipping participants with skills to help them adapt to current market dynamics. The four-year partnership, launched in September 2020, aims to train local MSMEs in the oil and gas value chain in Business Management, Financial Records, Taxation, Access to Financing and Financial Planning.

“The project partners are strongly committed to ensuring significant local participation, allowing Mozambican companies to access opportunities in the supply chain arising from Area 4 projects,” said Hermano Juvane, Director of Oil & Gas at Absa Mozambique. According to Juvane, despite the current challenges, companies have demonstrated the need and interest in complying with all modules of the 55-hour course, which took place over 6 weeks.

“The organisation of companies, access to finance and quality certification are other challenges we want to help enterprises address. We are talking about an extremely complex industry with demanding national and international standards. To guarantee their competitiveness, it is important that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises bear in mind that certification is not a cost, but an investment that adds value, not only in terms of access to finance, but also in the award of contracts,” Juvane stressed. MozUp is managed by Mozambique Sustainable Enterprise Solutions and has as its objective training and developing Mozambican SMEs. It does this by offering training in industry topics relevant to SMEs; business valuations; advisory and consulting services; mentoring on quality and safety certification requirements; and information on access to finance and financial products.