The Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development and Competitiveness Strategy is a policy response tool developed as an integrated approach for SME development. It focuses on increasing their survival rate through capacity-building programs, access to information, financing, a favourable fiscal policy environment, and assistance in accessing modern technology. The strategy aims to harness the opportunities arising from the AfCFTA and their full integration into regional and global value chains. While the region is immensely endowed with natural resources and a young and expanding population, Member States are confronted with an ongoing and escalating challenge of unemployment, particularly among the youth and women who comprise a significant portion of the labor force. Data on unemployment rates in Africa, per country, reveals that 40% of the top 13 countries with the highest unemployment rates were SADC Member States. In contrast, the same SADC region accounts for 46% of the top 13 African countries with the highest GDP per capita, with South Africa leading the group with a GDP per capita of US$7,055, Botswana with US$6,805, Namibia with US$4,866 and Eswatini with US$3,978. These development outcomes, where high unemployment levels co-exist with high per capita income, are an indication of structural weakness in the SADC economies, which is partly due to the predominance of extractive sectors in the economies as well as the limited role played by the dominant sector – SMEs - in job creation and absorption capacity.
