By Steven Godfrey Mkweteza
Companies in the country have been urged to follow the standards set by the Malawi Bureau of Standard (MBS) and other international standards so as to be competitive on the global market.
Speaking in Blantyre during the 2021 certificate awards ceremony to various local companies, the minister of industry, Roy Kachale Banda, observed that the country was not reaping enough for its economic growth and development due to local company’s non compliance of standards.
Kachale observed that the development has however, gave room for the products from other countries to flood the local market.
The minister noted that the country was losing huge revenue as the populace prefers products and services from those countries since they comply with the standards from their respective countries.
“For any country to grow economically and be competitive on the international market, there is need for companies to produce and maintain high quality products and services that comply with the standards, ” he said.
According to him, his ministry had already started making good progress in addressing some if the challenges affecting the local industry in producing products that would compete favourably on the market in terms of quality and prices.
Among others, he mentioned policy reviews, enactment of necessary laws and engaging in positive discussions with relevant stakeholders on matters affecting the local industry capacity.
Director general for Malawi bureau of standards (MBS), Symon Mandala, said his bureau was pleased to note that many companies were consistently adhering to the rules and regulations so as to be certified.
Mandala said the bureau has do far certified over 800 local companies since the program was introduced years ago.
“This indicate that we are taking the right direction as the number of entrants into the local certification scheme keeps on growing year by year and that significant numbers are for micro, small and medium scale enterprises,” he said.
In another development, the director general disclosed that his office was working on towards making sure that it also start certifying the international products flooding the local market to ensure combativeness and efficiency.
Christina Chirwa, from the Blantyre synod owned grace Bandawe conference centre and whose hospitality entity was among those certified, hailed the initiative.
She said many consumers in the country have started becoming aware of the importance of using certified products and services than ever before.
A total of 295 local companies that met standardization and quality assurance parameters, received the certificates.
These included candles limited, peoples trading center,Rab processors and project peanut butter among others.
