O que é o Mozlink

SMEs need fairly intensive assistance to reach a point where they can work smoothly with large firms. Their needs might be as basic as learning how to prepare bids for contracts and figuring out how to scale up their volume of production without losing control of quality standards. Or working capital can be insufficient to bridge the gap between materials purchase and payment.

To help local small and medium businesses deliver contracts to Mozal and other large businesses in Mozambique, a linkages program (Mozlink) has been set up. The program is a partnership between Mozal, the Centre for Promotion of Investment (CPI), the Africa Project Development Facility (APDF) of the International Finance Corporation and Projecto Para o Desenvolvimento Empresarial (PoDE).

Mozlink is a collaboration between Big Companies in Mozambique and development agency partners, The Centre for Promotion of Investment (CPI), the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and PodeCAT, which aimed to:
• Build stronger and more competitive Mozambican SMEs
• Transfer knowledge and capacity from foreign countries to Mozambique
• Increase spend with Mozambican Companies

Through Mozlink, we are aggressively localising our spend without compromising safety, competitiveness or quality. Mozlink is a win-win-win for the corporates, SMEs and the communities we live in.
A SME Development Centre has been established to provide SMEs with training in safety, maintenance, quality and management (HR and finance) using coaches from Mozlink’s partners. A performance baseline is established for each SME, development plans are created and the companies are given five months to implement the improvements . The companies are then reassessed, a new baseline is set, and a new development plan is created. This process of continuous improvement is ongoing. There are currently 25 companies in the program.

The SMEs now using personal protective clothing (PPC) and quality systems are implemented because the owners/managers believe it makes them stronger and more competitive in the long term,’ he said. ‘For the change to become sustainable, ownership is essential.’
The graph below shows the results achieved by the first SMEs taking part in the program.

The second leg of Mozlink is a focus on knowledge sharing

One limiting factor for rapid growth is the lack of SME access to the right information — the launch of the Mozlink website in August will provide SMEs with additional resources. The credo of our website is: Sharing learnings benefits all. The website provides SMEs with the opportunity to extend their marketplace, facilitates access to sector data, introduces best practice (in the Mozambican context) and provides general information such as guidelines for tendering and financing. The website will bring demand and supply together.
Within the companies we recognise SMEs that have excellent safety, maintenance practice or HR management performance, and we encourage the other SMEs to visit these ‘best practice’ companies to share learnings. The website will also provide information on available tenders from most large companies in Mozambique, so the SMEs know what work they can tender for and in that way they can be more proactive towards the larger companies.’
The third component of Mozlink is called Women in Business (WIB). WIB tries to create awareness among SMEs for female ownership and employment.

The last important focus point is HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is an enormous treat to SMEs and bigger companies. SMEs spending a lot of time in training, coaching and educating its personal. If SMEs do not actively implement programmes to encourage people to get tested and follow the right treatment, the losses in 5-10 years will be enormous and lots of SMEs will not survive. Mozlink tries to prevent that by assisting SMEs to implement HIV/AIDS programmes.
There are good examples that shows that Mozlink is creating real capacity with local SMEs.
‘The PPC needed for hot metal work at Mozal is a specialised product which is currently being made in South Africa and the USA. Soon this PPC will be manufactured in Mozambique,’ he said. ‘Over the past five months, we have been training up a local company in the manufacture of this specialised product with the help of a South African company. ‘This particular package requires five to eight additional employees for the SME and generates an income for five to eight Mozambican families. Over the past 12 months, Mozal has awarded 30 packages to Mozambican companies.
With the Mozlink steering committee, we visit the SMEs and the difference in safety, maintenance and operational practice after the Mozlink program is remarkable. Mozambicans are eager to learn and adapt fast to change. This, together with the improvements within the SMEs, makes the work very rewarding.