Part 3 - Market Access

30% of entrepreneurs in South Africa rank market access among the most needed opportunities for their business.

Domestic Market

These interventions consist in facilitating  access to the domestic market through notably market intelligence, networking and capacity building. A level-playing field and a growing economy fosters growth of companies, competing on the merits.

Policy Objectives Addressed	Expected Impacts	KPIs
Increasing and improving of the quality of goods and services offer in the country	GDP Growth Increase SMEs market value	GDP Growth % Domestic market scale Competition Shadow economy Extent of market dominance Firms competing against unregistered or informal firms Number of subsidiaries with HQ in the country

Events, Exhibitions & Forums:  Promoting events aimed at SME marketing.	→	The Nigerian SME Agency (SMEDAN) intends to create a stakeholder’s forum for the support of marketing research which can be disseminated to interested MSMEs.
Marketing tools: Creation of marketing tools for the promotion of SMEs goods and services.	→	Mauritius seeks to establish an international e-commerce portal to showcase their products and services of SEDP members to international clients at a minimum fee. The portal will include an e-payment facility.
Access to Market Information: Facilitating the flow of market information.	→	The Rwandan government will develop a strategy to determine changing SME market information needs and will create tools e.g. comprehensive databases of market information at each district level Business Development Service center.

Training and support: Providing training and support that improve SMEs’ access to market.	→	Tanzania seeks to facilitate support programs that improve SMEs’ access to market. These include programs that strengthen marketing agencies and institutions that support SMEs.
Business to Business: Encouraging subcontracting relationships between SMEs and larger companies.	→	Côte d’Ivoire seeks to organize SME relations with large companies, to encourage the emergence of clusters of innovative companies, and to increase technology transfer from universities and research institutes to SMEs.
Co-branding with national platforms and agencies for made in Africa: Leverage tourism platforms to showcasing local brands by associating the promotion of your country with promotion of SMEs.	→	The Moroccan Investment Development Agency certifies/labels local products and offers support for internationalization for companies meeting a certain level of quality and standards. Entrepreneurs can leverage on the country’s brand to promote their own brand.

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The Mauritius trade fairs for SMEs

• The former SMEDA (now SME Mauritius)  use to organize trade fairs to create opportunity for SMEs to benchmark the SME products and services on the local market.

• The primary objectives of those trade fairs are to raise awareness about the know-how of local SMEs,  increase the visibility of locally-manufactured products, enable SMEs to better communicate, promote and sell their products to the local public as well as tourists and create linkage with other enterprises.

• Those events are also an occasion for SMEs to communicate with their clients, know about their demands and if there is any gap in the market so that they can fulfill it or better add value to their existing products for higher sales.

Internationalization

These interventions aim at easing export and import and contribute to create bigger markets for companies and hence fosters growth.

Policy Objectives Addressed	Expected Impacts	KPIs
Creating ease of export and import	Increase of exports	Trading across borders Internationalization Applied tariff rate

Market intelligence and information: providing relevant information to entreprises on market opportunities, trends, competitor and customer with  the purpose of facilitating confident decision-making and market strategies.	→	Mauritius’ policy provides that its SME agency (now SME Mauritius) should circulate a monthly Export e-Newsletter with market intelligence information to all participants of its SME Export Development Programme.
Networking through International Fairs and Trade Missions: creating opportunities for business networking and setting up of events for promotion and marketing of goods and services.	→	The Philippines supports startups that have passed their respective selection and application process for local or international startup events or competitions. This support includes an endorsement for expedited processing of travel documents e.g. passport and/or visa applications and per diem allowances. The government may also provide full or partial subsidies for fees incurred in the application of travel documents; fees for baggage allowance for materials, equipment, and/or products; and subsidies for roundtrip airfare.

Export Advisory, Training and Capacity Building: addressing the need to build SME capacity and knowledge on export through advice, training, skills upgrades, etc.	→	For instance, Benin intends to provide managerial training for exports and Ghana seeks to providing advice on the approval of import licenses for small-scale entrepreneurs.
Financial Support: providing financial support specifically designed to foster internationalization	→	Morocco offers to bear part of the expenditure relating to the formation of SME groupings or associations whose purpose is to gain access to external markets.

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10 years Master Plan for the SME Sector in Mauritius.

• Mauritius’ policy offers a comprehensive strategy to penetrate foreign markets, with a specific focus on African markets, leveraging on the 14 Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements, Government to Government agreements and diplomatic efforts. It proposes an SME Export Development Program (SEDP) targeted at supporting SMEs to produce goods and services with high export potential. Its strategies includes the provision of market intelligence, networking, advisory services, capacity building and training.
• Mauritius also intends to maintain its Participation in International Fairs Grant Scheme (PIFGS) for manufacturing SMEs supported by the Board of Investment for SMEs engaged in the services sector.
• Finally, Mauritius proposes that three existing schemes, the Freight Rebate Scheme (Africa, Madagascar and Reunion), the Export Credit Guarantee Scheme and the Air Freight Scheme be open to SMEs registered under the SEDP.

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GIZ export program to help Tunisian SMEs export in other African countries

• GIZ partnered with the Tunisian Ministry of Commerce to help small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing and service sector that have little or no representation in African markets.
• With support from the project and the consulting firm Deloitte, companies in the food, construction and health industries have established export consortia to jointly tap into new markets in Africa. The consortia developed strategies for exporting to the five African target markets: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Nigeria.
• he project also explicitly targets German enterprises that are looking to enter the sub-Saharan market but need partners on the continent to do so. It organises business trips and visits to trade fairs in Germany, Tunisia and the African target markets in order to help establish contacts and form partnerships.

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Ivory Coast - Online platform for foreign trade

• Launched as of July 1, 2013, The Guichet Unique du Commerce Extérieur (GUCE) will gradually consolidate all information relating to foreign trade into a single transactional portal, to enable any individual wishing to trade to or from Ivory Coast to obtain a clear procedure, as well as adequate support, in order to carry out their business operations online.
• The website provide economic operators with a comprehensive user-friendly single source where all information on imports, exports and transit as well as all regulations, procedures and requirements for trade in Côte d'Ivoire can be found.
• In particular, it provides preliminary advice to economic operators on the most common requirements for the import or export of goods in Côte d'Ivoire.
  

Equipment & inputs

These interventions aim to improve availability and access to equipment (including offices and physical space, machinery or high-tech equipment), technical material (including packaging), and raw materials at the right quality, price and reliability supports business expansion.

Policy Objectives Addressed	Expected Impacts	KPIs
Facilitating access to affordable equipment, inputs and spaces	Increase businesses productivity	Local supplier quantity the price per square meters for a commercial space

Land Access: Facilitating the access to plot lands.	→	Benin and Niger’s laws seek to facilitate access to land by simplifying legal procedures. In both laws, this includes allocating a specific number of plots for SMEs after submitting evidence of eligibility.
Industrial Clusters and Special Economic Zones: Promoting the gathering of companies in areas with infrastructure for technology development.	→	Nigeria’ s policy offers a multi-pronged approach that works with the private sector to establish these cluster parks. First, the government seeks to create public-private partnerships that support business estates and industrial clusters with essential technical facilities and services. SMEDAN, for instance, seeks to partner with existing free trade zones, the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, and private sector institutions to create MSME specific free trade zones. The policy also proposes resuscitating and converting Industrial Development Centers (IDCs) to MSMEs cluster parks through PPPs.

Buildings/Office Spaces: Facilitating the access to buildings and office spaces	→	Zambia’s law facilitates SME access to buildings and provides tax incentives for owners of buildings who offer their properties to SMEs for use.
Raw Materials: Facilitate the acquisition, transportation and use of raw materials.	→	Botswana seeks to facilitate sourcing of raw materials through publicity, outreach and information technology.
Equipment: Facilitate acquisition, maintenance and renewal of equipment.	→	The Ivorian law provides for the adoption of legislative and regulatory measures to encourage leasing, which allows SMEs to acquire or renew their equipment.

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Buildings and premises provisions in the Zambia small enterprises development act

• Zambia’s law facilitates SME access to buildings and provides tax incentives for owners of buildings who offer their properties to SMEs for use. Specifically, the government will assist MSMEs in manufacturing with industrial estates; and MSME in the trading and sale of goods and services with commercial estates.
• Owners of any building or premises who let them out for the purposes specified above receive tax exemptions on income received from rentals on and the payment of rates on factory premises; and benefit from capital allowances at the following special rates:
  • any building used as industrial estates qualify for a wear and tear allowance of five per centum per annum of the cost, plus an initial allowance of ten per centum of the cost in the year in which the building is first used;
  • a wear and tear allowance of fifty per centum per year of the cost in each of the first two years for implements, machinery and plant used exclusively for farming and manufacturing.

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Dakar Integrated Special Economic Zone (DISEZ)

• The Dakar Integrated Special Economic Zone is a government project developed in partnership with EZW (Economic Zones World), a world-renowned investor and operator of economic free zones.
• The DISEZ’s site includes an industrial park, service spaces, offices, a logistics platform and, later, a commercial zone, tourist complexes and residential areas.
• The Special Economic Zones (SEZ) aim at contributing to make Senegal a regional logistics and industrial hub and help to develop all the country's geographical assets.

Public Procurement

These interventions contribute to facilitate the access to public and private procurement markets for SMEs, access to information, timely payments and contract sizes with attention to SMEs enhances opportunities for firms to win tenders, thereby opening up a new market segment for smaller firms.

Policy Objectives Addressed	Expected Impacts	KPIs
Facilitate the access to public procurement for SMEs Encouraging private subcontracting to SMEs.	More creation and development of SMEs	Public procurement score Private procurement: opportunities for SMEs

Contract Allocations for SMEs: Reserving a portion of public orders for smes.	→	Djibouti reserves all public contracts under fifteen (15) million Djiboutian francs for Very Small Business in their respective sectors.
Subcontracting SMEs: Encourage private subcontracting to smes.	→	Large companies bidding on public contracts in Senegal who subcontract to SMEs shall have preference. Applicants who subcontract 30% of the services to one or more labelled startups; or who submit a group offer with one or more startups may receive a 5% preference margin.
Technical and material support: providing technical and material support in order to win public tenders.	→	Burkina Faso offer support to assist SMEs in gaining approval of their products. Burkina’s seeks to promote access to the WAEMU Community and international public contracts by providing access to information and procedures for preparing tenders.

Simplified Requirements and Relaxed Norms: Simplifying rules related to public procurement.	→	India’s Department of Expenditure relax the conditions of prior experience, prior turnover and an exemption from Earnest Money Deposits (EMD) upon successful fulfillment of quality and technical specification.
Online Procurement:  Digitizing public order procedures.	→	Morocco has introduced an electronic procurement system that requires public entities to allow bidders to submit their bids online if they wish to do so.

Financial Support: Supporting SMEs financial effort towards getting public contracts.	→	Morocco's law makes provision for the government to bear part of the expenditure relating to the formation of SME groupings or associations whose purpose is to gain access to public procurement.
Government Patronage of SME goods and services:   Encouraging the consumption of goods and services provided by SMEs.	→	Nigeria’s policy states that the government will make deliberate efforts to patronize MSME products/services.

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Burkinabè SBA’s measures to facilitate access to public procurement for SMEs

• Burkinabè SBA sets up a serie of measures to facilitate access to public procurement and the association of large companies to carry out certain projects.
• Large companies bidding for large contracts and development projects are encouraged to subcontract with local SMEs.
• The State ensures the revision of award criteria and procedures for the management of public orders, to take into account the specificity of SMEs and at least 15% of the public contracts must be reserved for SMEs.
• Finally, the State shall ensure that the contracting authorities make payments of claims within specified time limits.
  

Innovation adoption

These instruments support the development of frameworks and certification processes, the integration of manufacturing capabilities and benefits for SMEs who show improvements in technological innovation.

Policy Objectives Addressed	Expected Impacts	KPIs
Increase the use and the development of technological goods and services	Increase in manufacturing and delivery of value-added products and services	Legal framework adaptability to emerging technologies Knowledge diffusion Adoption of emerging technologies Technology absorption Medium and High-tech industry Innovations index (Global Innovations Index)

Frameworks for Adoption of New Technologies and Processes: Promoting the use and the creation of technological goods and services.	→	In Mauritius, in a bid to create more ‘green SMEs’, the policy seeks to define a framework for eco-labelling and eco-certification and empower public authorities to enforce regulations. It also seeks to ensure implementation of agricultural, manufacturing and tourism projects in the Switch Africa Green (SAG) intended to green in Mauritius and Rodrigues.
Promoting Value Addition through Manufacturing: Fostering  industrialization.	→	Tanzania’s policy focuses on promoting manufacturing enterprises in rural areas to increase value-addition of agro products. It intends to do this by strengthening extension services aimed at promoting industrialization; facilitating technology transfer to rural areas, including upgrading of existing technologies and supporting the establishment of rural industrial cooperatives.
Rewarding technological innovation: Encouraging the development of technology.	→	The Italian Startup Act makes provision for the government to upgrade the status of innovative startups by transferring “mature” startups to “innovative SME” status. This status is available for companies that have experience and production value, and their activities are characterized by a high level of technological innovation.

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Rwanda ICT adoption policy

• In Rwanda, initiatives focused on ICT adoption. They included the introduction of mobile ICT vans, IT training for SMEs and subsidized business laptops to increase ICT adoption.
• Rwanda also intends to facilitate SMEs access to infrastructural facilities (SEZs) and the opportunity to work alongside other large and small enterprises to promote technological adoption.
• In 2016, over 400 buses have been connected to 4G Internet, offering passengers (including many schoolchildren) free wireless Internet while taking public transport.

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Morocco CCG Open Innovation Platform

• In Morocco, the Caisse Centrale de Garantie (CCG) increased collaboration between large companies and startups to create proofs of concepts for innovation and technology across industry, agriculture, banking and other sectors.
• The CCG identified the challenges faced by larger companies and trained and mentored startups to address them. Startups were rewarded with funding to implement their concept and selected concepts received direct tenders and contracts they wouldn’t otherwise have been able to. the CCG fund was co-founded with the World Bank.
• The project was initially piloted with private sector companies but later with public sector as well.  Local companies were also trained to take over some services that where provided by foreign companies.

Market Access KPIs

Sub Challenge	Description	Indicators	Source
Domestic market	Captures the favorability of the domestic market in terms of size, the competitive environment and the fairness of competition. A level-playing field and a growing economy fosters growth of companies, competing on the merits.	GDP Growth %	www.theglobaleconomy.com
		Domestic market scale	www.globalinnovationindex.org
		Competition	www.thegedi.org
		Shadow economy	www.theglobaleconomy.com
		Extent of market dominance	www.thegedi.org
		Firms competing against unregistered or informal firms	www.enterprisesurveys.org
Internationalization	Tracks time and cost to export and import products. Ease of export and import creates bigger markets and hence fosters growth.	Trading across borders	www.doingbusiness.org
		Internationalization	www.thegedi.org
		Applied tariff rate	www.globalinnovationindex.org
Equipment & Inputs	Measures the availability of inputs on the market. The availability and access to equipment (e.g. offices, physical space, machinery or high-tech equipment), technical material (including packaging), and raw materials at the right quality, price and reliability supports business expansion.	Local supplier quantity	www.weforum.org
Procurement	Captures the ease for SMEs to access public and private procurement markets. Access to information, timely payments and contract sizes with attention to SMEs enhances opportunities for firms to win tenders, thereby opening up a new market segment for smaller firms.	Public procurement score	www.worldbank.org
		Private procurement: opportunities for SMEs	Expert opinion
Innovation adoption	Tracks the diffusion of new products and services and the capability of the consumer market to absorb them. The openness of consumers to use new services and solutions provides a good basis for business to get prototypes and ideas to the market.	Legal framework adaptability to emerging technologies	www.weforum.org
		Knowledge diffusion	www.globalinnovationindex.org
		Adoption of emerging technologies	www.globalinnovationindex.org
		Technology absorption	www.thegedi.org
		Medium and High-tech industry	https://unstats.un.org

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Business Support

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